[xzins]

If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began:

IF I ever joined an opinion for the Court, EVEN as the price to be paid for a 5th vote... I'd (still) hide my head in a bag."

[Sherman Logan]

To my mind, the wording implies he or others have engaged in such horsetrading. He implies that his objection would be to doing so for an opinion that began with ...

Which implies that opinions beginning with other wording would be considered.