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What is of greatest concern is whether the Court will hold some of these cases over until the Summer Recess is concluded---ie really until right up to the election. Peter Finley Dunn, the political satirist of the 1890s once said: I"t is not clear whether the Constitution follows the Flag (" in the Phillipines statehood debate ) but the Supreme Court follows the election returns ( the election made it very clear that the Public did not favor making the Phillipines a state). If that happens in the Trump cases, there will be major efforts to reform the Court whichever way the election comes ouot.

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If Roberts (sometimes referred to as “the Chief Justice”) had the inclination and the spine, couldn’t he reassign Alito’s opinions?

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Yes. Assuming that Robert's was on the same side as Alito. It is more likely that Alito is dissenting and Robert's is in the majority with some sort of half baked compromise. There is a point at which this is the responsibility of the 3 Justices who are not in the Conservative Coalition. They have a duty to speak up and to issue their own decision NOW. That has happened before and it forced the court to act.

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Rehnquist is said to have occasionally switched sides in order to assign the opinion

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And Burger did it frequently

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