“He knows he has 4 votes on his side—his two picks, and Bill Clinton’s two picks. He needs one more—I don’t know if this kind of stunt can intimidate any of the remaining 5. Hopefully none of them is vulnerable to blackmail.”
If I’m not mistaken (others please correct me), was not the vote by the Court already taken on Friday, March 30?
Or, have they yet to vote?
If the vote hasn’t yet been taken, this was aimed at Anthony Kennedy.
Will he cave?
If the vote already -has- been taken, perhaps Obama knows something we don’t about the outcome. Who might have leaked the decision? If that decision has been made, does Obama really think he can cow them?
The way it works is that they take an initial vote, then majority opinion and dissenting opinion [if any] writing is assigned. These are then passed among the justices to read and they are free to change their minds at a later date.
However, there is a drop dead date after which they cannot change their minds ...