Major cases to be impacted by Scalia’s death

The passing of Justice Antonin Scalia Saturday could have a grave impact on cases now before the court.

In a blog post Saturday, Tom Goldstein, an appellate advocate and the publisher of SCOTUSblog, said votes that Scalia cast in cases that have not been publicly decided are void.

{mosads}If Scalia’s vote, however, did not affect the case’s outcome, he said the case will still be decided but only by an eight-member court.

Major cases that have been argued but not publicly decided include Fisher v. University of Texas, which challenges the use of affirmative action. The justices appeared closely divided during arguments in December.  

Scalia made headlines for comments he made from the bench that suggested minority students might belong in “less-advanced schools” than their white peers.

“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African­ Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less­-advanced school, a slower-­track school where they do well,” he said. “One of the briefs pointed out that most of the black scientists in this country don’t come from schools like the University of Texas.”

A decision is also still pending in a Texas redistricting case, Evenwel v. Abbott, which challenges the “one-person, one-vote” principle used when drawing equal legislative districts.

Goldstein also pointed to Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which threatens union shops in public workplaces. If Scalia was part of a 5-4 majority decision, the court would now be divided 4-4. In that case, the lower court’s ruling would stand, he wrote.