The Supreme Court released three opinions Wednesday in cases argued earlier this term, in which each case saw the three-member liberal minority joining the majority opinion in each decision.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, one of six Republican-appointed justices on the conservative-majority court, authored a 9-0 unanimous decision in a bankruptcy case known as Bartenwerfer v. Buckley. The decision was followed by a 6-3 opinion authored by liberal Justice Elena Kagan in a labor dispute known as Helix Energy Solutions Group v. Hewitt, followed by a 5-4 decision by liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor favoring a death row inmate in Cruz v. Arizona.
In Bartenwerfer, the full court held that bankruptcy debt obtained by fraudulent activities can't be discharged in a bankruptcy petition even if the filer is not faulted for the fraud. That decision saw Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sotomayor concurring with Barrett's opinion.
SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS IN SECOND CASE WITH MAJOR IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERNET
Next, the majority court held that Helix Energy employee Michael Hewitt is entitled to overtime pay despite earning more than $200,000 annually, citing that he wasn't a salaried employee. The ruling was joined on nonideological lines by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Sotomayor, Barrett, and Jackson.
Sotomayor authored the final opinion in favor of an Arizona death row inmate who argued he should be allowed to challenge his sentence in federal court but was blocked from doing so under a procedural rule. The decision held that the state Supreme Court can't simply rely on state procedural rules to block state prisoners from bringing federal constitutional claims, a decision joined by Republican-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh along with Roberts, Kagan, and Jackson.
The Cruz case was by far the most striking decision, given that it is exceedingly rare for the conservative Supreme Court to offer a legal victory to death row inmates. A separate 5-4 decision last year granted a Georgia death row inmate's request to die by firing squad over lethal injection.
Although the three decisions included liberal justices in the majority opinions, none of the cases surrounding hot-button and polarizing topics argued this term, such as a pending ruling over the fate of affirmative action or whether a Christian web designer can decline her services to same-sex couples seeking a custom wedding webpage.
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The 6-3 Republican-appointed majority is still wielding more power over the three liberal members, as last term saw Justice Samuel Alito author 21% of the opinions in ideologically polarized cases, with Roberts and Thomas authoring 29%, respectively, under the same criteria, according to data from SCOTUSBlog. Additionally, Alito was in the majority in 78% of divided cases last term, up from 58% of divided cases two years ago.
Notably, Roberts and Kavanaugh, appointed by Republican presidents, joined at least one liberal in the majority in seven out of the 10 opinions last term that were 5-4 decisions, according to data from the widely cited Supreme Court blog Empirical SCOTUS.