[Modernman]

The main thing the Chief Justice can do, is he gets to pick who writes the majority and minority opinions. That is a powerful way to influence the court. He can always pick himself to write opinions he has strong beliefs on.

It's somewhat influential. However, any Justices who aren't altogether happy with the Chief Justice's opinion can go and write their own, concurring, opinions.

A CJ therefore has to be a good politician or he'll find that his opinions are constantly being diluted by concurrences.

[lavrenti]

Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag.