WASHINGTON _ Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hinted that sharp divisions will mark the final weeks of a Supreme Court term that will include major rulings on the census and partisan gerrymandering.
Speaking before the annual conference of federal judges in New York, Ginsburg suggested that more than a quarter of the court's remaining 27 rulings will be decided by a single vote. Of the 43 argued cases settled so far, 11 were by a vote of either 5-4 or 5-3, she said.
"Given the number of most-watched cases still unannounced, I cannot predict that the relatively low sharp divisions ratio will hold," the 86-year-old judge said, according to a transcript of her remarks provided by the court on Friday.
The justices are scheduled to finish their nine-month term at the end of this month. It's the first session since Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court and strengthened the conservative majority.
The census case will determine whether President Donald Trump's administration can add a question about citizenship to the 2020 survey. The two gerrymandering cases could resolve whether voting maps can be challenged as being so partisan they violate the Constitution.
