Personally I'd rather have a 5-4 decision (which carries the same strength of law as a 9-0, but IANAL) if it means the language can be stronger and less "limited".HerbM wrote:It will almost certainly be affirmed (for Mr. Heller against the DC gun ban) as an individual right. I predicted 7-2 long before cert was granted, when people were saying how seldom that cert is even granted. 7-2 with an outside change at 9-0 if the decision is very limited.
The smart folks are saying that Scalia's writing it because he's the only one left who hasn't written a decision from the March session, when Heller was argued (and they typically do one-each for every month's session). Other smart folks are saying that since Scalia's writing it, it's more likely to be a closer decision because he tends to write in stronger terms that tends to lose votes, as opposed to Roberts, who'd be more accommodating, which would in turn lead to a larger majority. I'll see if I can find a link to what I read on that.