Supreme Court justices frequently chide their critics by pointing to how many of their decisions are unanimous — but that unanimity was tougher to find this year.
Just 42% of cases argued and decided in the 2024-2025 term were unanimous, according to Adam Feldman, Supreme Court scholar and creator of the Empirical SCOTUS blog. That’s down from half of the rulings two years ago, and lower than the average unanimity rate of the last two decades.
“It’s really been going down,” Mr. Feldman said.
At the same time, the number of 6-3 decisions with the six Republican appointees in the majority slid to just 9% of cases, which is lower than the average of the last four terms and suggests that the divided cases didn’t cut as cleanly across ideological lines as some court critics argue.
The justices wrapped up with final opinions late last month, completing a session that