The assigned justice must craft an opinion attractive enough to hold five votes.

Evidence

Particularly crucial are the negotiations over the opinion of the Court, because the justice assigned the opinion must craft an opinion that can gain the support of five justices. Often an opinion goes through several drafts before it is accepted. Sometimes deep-seated divisions prevent a majority from coalescing behind a single opinion. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1569

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains why opinions get drafted and redrafted: the five-justice threshold binds the author’s language.
• XREF: connects to: Collegial courts make decisions through group conference and majority-coalition opinion assignment — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1597; Judges’ personal attitudes systematically shape their case votes. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2579; Judicial discretion is constrained by written opinions and the craft of judging. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1281 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Justices bargain over opinion drafts, trading requested changes for votes to join. #corroborates (1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1568
• Judicial ethics bar justices from trading votes as legislators do. #contradicts (0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 943
• Collegial courts make decisions through group conference and majority-coalition opinion assignment #responds-to (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1597
• Judges’ personal attitudes systematically shape their case votes. #qualifies (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2579
• Judicial discretion is constrained by written opinions and the craft of judging. #responds-to (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1281
• Four votes are required to grant certiorari for Supreme Court review #qualifies (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 911
• Justice is expected to emerge from balanced partisan presentations #complicates (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 922
• The political perspective holds that judges’ attitudes determine their rulings. #qualifies (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2647
• Rotating opinion assignment makes assigned judges unusually influential on appellate panels #qualifies (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1597
• Justice requires participation parity alongside distribution and recognition. #qualifies (0.80) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 66
• Party affiliation serves as a measurable proxy for a judge’s unobservable political attitudes. #qualifies (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2587
• Elected judges may bend rulings toward voter preferences to secure re-election. #qualifies (0.75) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 780
• Opinion assignment shifts to the senior majority justice when the chief justice dissents. #qualifies (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1567
• Judicial nominees must satisfy both confirmability and ideological expectations #qualifies (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 361
• Judicial opinions typically provide legal support for decisions reached on nonlegal grounds #qualifies (0.75) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 320