Posted on 02/13/2016 2:56:29 PM PST by GilGil
In a 4-4 decision, the verdict falls back to the last ruling determined at the next lower court.
All the cases already heard, even if a new justice gets put in cannot vote as he/she/it was not present when the case was presented before the court. So everything heard and pending in in danger of reverting to the lower court decisions.
This puts in danger every available seat in the House and Senate with pressure to vote in an ideology, not just a name or a party.
Ginsberg leaving would balance the court again. She MAY be honorable enough to do so.
I think Ginsberg was found alive AGAIN this morning.
This Slate article fails to mention a VERY important fact:
I heard something very interesting this morning that confirmed what I had suspected. The Chief Justice of the USSC has the authority to call a rehearing of a case. Because this case (and others during this session) may end in a tie (which would then let the lower court ruling stand), the Chief Justice can withhold releasing a tie decision and wait until the court vacancy is filled before requesting a rehearing in front of the full court.
So, then the question will be if Chief Justice Roberts will have a stiff enough backbone to not release the tied decisions in this case and others, and hold out for a hopefully conservative justice appointment .
I found a news article where the USSC announced a rehearing of a case because of the retirement of a Justice before a pending case decision was rendered that would apparently have resulted in a tie:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021701950.html
USCG SimTech wrote: ...All the cases already heard, even if a new justice gets put in cannot vote as he/she/it was not present when the case was presented before the court. So everything heard and pending in in danger of reverting to the lower court decisions.
Not exactly... See my post #25 above.
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