Two weeks after Justice Scalia died, Justice Clarence Thomas broke a decade-long silence by asking questions from the bench. But in March, the month after Justice Scalia died, the court announced that it had deadlocked in the case. But it is also possible that Justice Scalia played a role in pushing Justice Kennedy to the left. The term that ended on Monday included a half-dozen potential blockbusters, but all of them had been put on the docket before Justice Scalia died. “Without Scalia, it’s still the Kennedy court, but Kagan and Breyer had a very good term,” she said.

Source: New York Times June 28, 2016 17:26 UTC