Although the Supreme Court of the United States almost never has trouble counting to five with respect to the ultimate disposition of a case, the Court often stumbles when attempting to agree on the appropriate rationale. If not resolved, this disagreement will lead to the Court’s announcing a plurality decision. The Court has handed down a steadily increasing number of plurality decisions throughout its history. Commentators have suggested a number of factors that might account for this increase, including ideological splits among the Justices, an increasingly heavy workload, more cases presenting socially volatile issues, a lack of leadership on the Court, and an increase in “substantive” reasoning in the Court’s decisions. Whatever the root causes might be, plurality decisions have become an undeniable part of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence. . . .
