The centre can hold

摘要

THE SUPREME COURT'S first full term with Donald Trump's two appointees in robes could have been a bloodbath. In the midst of a pandemic and the most fraught political landscape since the 1960s, though, the feast of cases did not bring total victory for the five-member conservative majority. Instead, John Roberts, in his 15th year as chief justice, presided over a court that broke left and right about equally in cases involving religion, abortion, civil rights and presidential power. He also managed to keep the proportion of 5-to-4 decisions down to around one-in-five-matching his tenure's average.