The ideological mix of the justices in the majority on some of these recent decisions is confusing me. What does the legal community think? Are y’all surprised by the atypical makeup of the majority?
Scalia and Thomas do not seem to be voting together as often.
The "liberal" vs. "conservative" labeling of the justices is a shorthand that is somewhat oversimplified and does not always predict votes. As I pointed out about last week's cases, Scalia is often on the defense side in criminal cases and Breyer is very often on the prosecution side. Even Ginsburg is sometimes pro-prosecution in criminal cases.
Today's rulings, however, have been remarked upon in the legal blogosphere as being surprising. Few observers expected Scalia's vote in the Arizona voting case, and the votes in Alleyne (the 6th Amendment/ sentencing case) are very unusual--Thomas is almost never on the defense side in a closely-split criminal case, and Scalia, who dissented in Alleyne has been on the defense side in previous cases on that issue.