Re Supreme Court, in 1979 Bob Woodward wrote The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court. He discussed the Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali case where he filed as a conscious objector for the draft. The USA sought to prosecute him as a draft dodger. The court ultimately ruled in his favor as he had converted to Islam through Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam. However, Woodward reported that ye Court had initially voted to uphold the conviction. I forget what changed their minds (if Bob knew or said) and of course he may have not really known.
But the high court is squirrelly. They have been threatened with imperachment, having their budget cut, and packing more members on there to get more favorable results. Meanwhile, Roberts is weak and not real consistent or trustworthy. They all have feet of clay (except Thomas - who is steady and elite as they come).
From Wikipedia end of article under “Clay v United States” shows how Court can finagle stuff:
“Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong provide an account of the development of the decision in their 1979 book The Brethren. According to that account, Justice Marshall had recused himself because he had been U.S. Solicitor General when the case began,[citation needed] and the remaining eight justices initially voted 5 to 3 to uphold Ali’s conviction. However, Justice John Marshall Harlan II, assigned to write the majority opinion, became convinced that Ali’s claim to be a conscientious objector was sincere after reading background material on Black Muslim doctrine provided by one of his law clerks. Justice Harlan concluded that the claim by the Justice Department had been a misrepresentation. Harlan changed his vote, tying the vote at 4 to 4. A deadlock would have resulted in Ali being jailed for draft evasion and, since no opinions are published for deadlocked decisions, he would have never known why he had lost. A compromise was proposed by Justice Potter Stewart, in which Ali’s conviction would be reversed, citing a technical error by the Justice Department. This gradually won unanimous assent from the eight voting justices, all of whom, with Justice Marshall’s recusal, were white. “