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Per Curiam

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:33 am
by Tunnelcat
Does not mean a "unanimous decision". Trump and Sessions "assumed" that it meant that every SCOTUS judge came the same decision, 9 to 0 in their favor, and then they promptly charged out to the press and made that claim. What it really means is:

http://www.scotusblog.com/reference/edu ... gal-terms/
Per curiam opinion: An unsigned opinion, written for the court as a whole by an unidentified justice, is called a per curiam opinion. Written dissents from per curiam opinions are signed.
So Trump's out there boasting that he's won his battle like a swaggering orange baboon. That's not exactly true. Since yesterday's travel ban opinion was an unsigned decision by an unidentified justice, we don't know what the actual votes ended up being from all the justices. The only thing we DO know is that 3 conservative justices dissented, Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch, all in favor of implementing the entire ban for all six countries. So at best, the court is split down political lines. It's definitely not a 9 to 0 win.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-cou ... e-updates/