Today's Pesky Batch O' Facts

Some observations have been made about how often the Supreme Court's justices have voted unanimously in the 20 or so decisions published so far this year.

One such report alleges that "prior to the November election that changed the make-up of the court, many decisions split the justices 3-2."

Actually, just nine of the 122 opinions published in 2008 were decided by 3-2 votes, or 7% of the total.

Here's the breakdown for the four-year periods in between elections that have changed the court's makeup:

Period	Opinions	# unanimous	%	# 3-2 votes	%
2001-2004	715	427	59.7%	110	15.4%
2005-2008	547	365	66.7%	82	15.0%

Here are the totals for the completed terms of court so far this decade:

Period	Opinions	# unanimous	%	# 3-2 votes	%
2000 to 2008	1,441	898	62.3%	216	15.0%

The Associated Press has previously reported on the court's high rate of unanimous rulings.