Convictions: Slate's blog on legal issues

Most Intriguing Author Line Ever

JUSTICE STEVENS announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Justice KENNEDY join.

That's from Crawford v. Marion County. 

 It reveals yet again just how influential Justice Kennedy is:  He's such a swinging justice that the opposite poles now won't even let him swing. 

 And it reveals yet again just how fractured the Court really is.  The Chief can stave off division in important cases only by deciding as little as possible.   But now it appears, that approach doesn't even really work: it only gets you three, rather than nine.  So much for dreams of a new era of good feelings.