Today in Supreme Court History: July 1, 1985

7/1/1985: Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. is decided.

 

Comments

[apedad]

Gotta love the 9 – 0 decisions.

I wonder how many unanimous decisions have leaned right vs left (quick Google search didn’t show a good result).

[LawTalkingGuy]

I would imagine that that is difficult to quantify and some cases don’t fit in easy boxes. Gideon v. Wainwright is a good example. Is it left-leaning because it isn’t really originalist, helps poor criminal defendants, and imposes constitutional requirements on states? Or is it in some ways a conservative decision because it doesn’t let the government just run roughshod over someone’s rights while they bumble their way through proceedings they may not understand?

But, FWIW, both Thomas and Gorsuch appear to believe Gideon was incorrectly decided although they don’t go so far as to say it should be discarded.