An extremely interesting take on SCOTUS

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/11/the-supreme-rivalry-that-runs-america.html?via=mobile&source=facebook

Supreme Court Justices are supposed to decide cases under the “law” and they rarely discuss their personal relationships with each other publicly other than to suggest that they all get along famously. There’s little public attention paid to how the Justices react to one another—and that makes it extremely difficult for Court watchers to report on what may be important personal dynamics between the Justices.

Nevertheless, throughout history, there are pairs of Justices whose relationships were important both to the functioning of the institution and to votes in individual cases. Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, for example, voted as a liberal pair in most important cases for many years. There’s even evidence that towards the end of Marshall’s career, he instructed his clerks to vote as Justice Brennan voted.

There’s every reason to think Brennan and Marshall had a strong personal bond. The same was not true for Felix Frankfurter and Hugo Black. Black was a Southerner and a member of the KKK before he ascended to the Court and the Frankfurter, a Northeastern Jewish liberal, were antagonists throughout their careers and saw the Constitution very differently over a host of cases. Their strained personal relationship clearly affected their work and votes.

And now, there may be an historic personal dynamic occurring behind the curtains of our highest Court today that influences how the Court resolves important and news worthy cases. There is every reason to think Chief Justices Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy are battling for control of the Court. This dynamic may partially explain Chief Justice Roberts’ puzzling vote in the first ObamaCare decision (NFIB V. Sebelius) and may also affect his upcoming votes in this term’s blockbuster Obama Care and same-sex marriage cases. Of course, I can offer no direct proof of this, but only interesting, relevant, and maybe even persuasive, circumstantial evidence.

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I haven't a clue if this is true, but if it is, a quite interesting dynamic.