Group dynamics obviously matter when nine people interact, and of course it's impossible to know how this change will affect the court and Justice Ginsburg. |
I don't know if the Supreme Court is going to want to be the first court to get into this dispute. It seems controversial and political. |
I don't think it's clear at all the court will go with the health exception. He's the swing vote now — he will be the new center of gravity going forward. |
If he thinks that's OK, there are certainly other restrictions that he's going to be OK with. He'll make a decisive difference. |
It could be close. It is a wrenching issue. It's one of the most difficult decisions any family needs to make. There's a lot of discomfort with having the government at any level get involved. |
It is a way to win this case without having the court address the constitutionality of the parental notification provision and to ward off many otherwise effective future legal challenges, so restrictions can only be challenged as applied in a particular case. It's a way to not only win, but to win big. |
It's a rebuke to the Bush administration, but it's not any great victory for one side or the other. |