COM 400: How the Supreme Court makes decisions

	The Class	Pivotal Cases

2. Types of opinions rendered by the Supreme Court.
In any case, the Supreme Court may render one of six types of opinions:
A. Unanimous opinions

You will remember that:

When all nine Justices agree that one party to the suit wins a case, and when they agree that the winner won for one reason or set of reasons, this is a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court. One of the Justices writes a unanimous opinion reflecting the decision and reasoning of all nine Justices.
In many cases, however, not all Justices agree that one side won for the same reason or reasons. When this happens, we may find a split decision among the Justices.

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E-mail the professor Tony Parker at parker@jan.ucc.nau.edu, or call (520)523-2508