Most Surprising Supreme Court Votes Ever

John Roberts

Installed by a Republican president specifically to hollow out the Affordable Care Act, Roberts instead saved it in 2012 by inventing a taxing-power rationale nobody had briefed. Conservatives who'd celebrated his confirmation felt betrayed overnight, and the moment defined his r

Appointed By: George W. BushExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: NFIB v. SebeliusCase Year: 2012Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 9/10Career Ideological Shift: 4/10

added by IJRin 3 rankings

Neil Gorsuch

A Trump appointee celebrated as a textualist conservative, Gorsuch stunned the right in 2020 by writing the majority opinion in Bostock, ruling that Title VII's ban on sex discrimination protects LGBTQ employees. His literalist reading of the statute's plain text overrode the out

Appointed By: Donald TrumpExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Bostock v. Clayton CountyCase Year: 2020Vote Margin: 6-3Surprise Factor: 9/10Career Ideological Shift: 5/10

added by IJRNeil Gorsuch

Anthony Kennedy

Reagan's appointee became the deciding vote for marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, capping a pattern of siding with liberals on gay rights that baffled the conservative movement that championed him. His soaring language about dignity and liberty became instantly iconic an

Appointed By: Ronald ReaganExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Obergefell v. HodgesCase Year: 2015Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 7/10Career Ideological Shift: 6/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

David Souter

George H.W. Bush picked Souter expecting a reliable conservative vote, but he drifted so far left that 'No More Souters' became a rallying cry for the next generation of vetting nominees. His co-authored 1992 opinion upholding Roe's core in Casey sealed his reputation as the ulti

Appointed By: George H.W. BushExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Planned Parenthood v. CaseyCase Year: 1992Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 9/10Career Ideological Shift: 8/10

added by IJRDavid Souter

Harry Blackmun

Nixon appointed Blackmun as part of his 'law and order' bloc, yet he became the author of Roe v. Wade the very next year, one of the most consequential liberal rulings in American history. Blackmun's journey from Nixon loyalist to abortion-rights icon remains a textbook case of a

Appointed By: Richard NixonExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Roe v. WadeCase Year: 1973Vote Margin: 7-2Surprise Factor: 8/10Career Ideological Shift: 8/10

added by IJRHarry Blackmun

William Brennan

Eisenhower called Brennan's appointment one of his biggest mistakes, and for good reason: Brennan became the intellectual engine of the Warren Court's liberal revolution, from reapportionment to free speech. A moderate Democrat pick on paper, he governed decades of jurisprudence

Appointed By: Dwight EisenhowerExpected Leaning: ModerateSignature Case: Baker v. CarrCase Year: 1962Vote Margin: 6-2Surprise Factor: 7/10Career Ideological Shift: 8/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Earl Warren

Eisenhower expected a moderate caretaker chief justice and instead got the architect of the desegregation revolution, unanimously striking down school segregation in Brown v. Board just two years after his confirmation. Eisenhower reportedly called the Warren appointment his wors

Appointed By: Dwight EisenhowerExpected Leaning: ModerateSignature Case: Brown v. Board of EducationCase Year: 1954Vote Margin: 9-0Surprise Factor: 8/10Career Ideological Shift: 7/10

added by IJRin 5 rankingsEarl Warren

Antonin Scalia

The court's most famous conservative firebrand shocked allies in 1989 by ruling that burning the American flag was protected free speech, siding with a protester over patriotism itself. Scalia later joked it cost him politically, but his textualist principles trumped his personal

Appointed By: Ronald ReaganExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Texas v. JohnsonCase Year: 1989Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 8/10Career Ideological Shift: 3/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsAntonin Scalia

Sandra Day O'Connor

Reagan's first female nominee and a reliable conservative for two decades, O'Connor surprised many by writing the 2003 majority opinion upholding race-conscious affirmative action in university admissions in Grutter v. Bollinger. Her pragmatic, case-by-case swing votes made her t

Appointed By: Ronald ReaganExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Grutter v. BollingerCase Year: 2003Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 6/10Career Ideological Shift: 3/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsSandra Day O'Connor

Byron White

A Kennedy appointee expected to lean liberal, White instead delivered one of the fiercest dissents in Roe v. Wade, calling the decision an exercise of raw judicial power. He spent decades as an unpredictable centrist who frustrated liberals nearly as often as conservatives.

Appointed By: John F. KennedyExpected Leaning: LiberalSignature Case: Roe v. Wade (dissent)Case Year: 1973Vote Margin: 7-2Surprise Factor: 7/10Career Ideological Shift: 6/10

added by IJRin 3 rankings

Potter Stewart

Known mostly for his 'I know it when I see it' obscenity line, Stewart's real surprise came in Katz v. United States, where he expanded Fourth Amendment privacy protections to cover wiretapped phone booths, reshaping search-and-seizure law for the electronic age. A moderate Eisen

Appointed By: Dwight EisenhowerExpected Leaning: ModerateSignature Case: Katz v. United StatesCase Year: 1967Vote Margin: 7-1Surprise Factor: 5/10Career Ideological Shift: 3/10

added by IJRPotter Stewart

Lewis Powell

A Nixon conservative expected to oppose racial preferences outright, Powell instead crafted the controlling opinion in Bakke that struck down quotas while preserving diversity as a compelling interest, a compromise that shaped admissions policy for 45 years. His split-the-baby ap

Appointed By: Richard NixonExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Regents of UC v. BakkeCase Year: 1978Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 5/10Career Ideological Shift: 3/10

added by IJR

Felix Frankfurter

A celebrated liberal legal scholar before joining the bench, Frankfurter shocked civil libertarians by dissenting in West Virginia v. Barnette, arguing courts shouldn't overturn a mandatory flag-salute law for schoolchildren. His devotion to judicial restraint repeatedly put him

Appointed By: Franklin D. RooseveltExpected Leaning: LiberalSignature Case: West Virginia v. Barnette (dissent)Case Year: 1943Vote Margin: 6-3Surprise Factor: 6/10Career Ideological Shift: 5/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsFelix Frankfurter

Hugo Black

A former Klan member turned New Deal liberal hero, Black nonetheless wrote the majority opinion upholding Japanese American internment in Korematsu v. United States, a ruling that still haunts his legacy. It remains one of the starkest examples of a celebrated civil libertarian v

Appointed By: Franklin D. RooseveltExpected Leaning: LiberalSignature Case: Korematsu v. United StatesCase Year: 1944Vote Margin: 6-3Surprise Factor: 7/10Career Ideological Shift: 4/10

added by IJRin 3 rankingsHugo Black

Clarence Thomas

The court's most consistently conservative modern justice occasionally breaks pattern on criminal procedure, joining the majority in Apprendi v. New Jersey to strengthen jury-trial rights over judicial sentencing enhancements. It's a rare instance of Thomas's originalism landing

Appointed By: George H.W. BushExpected Leaning: ConservativeSignature Case: Apprendi v. New JerseyCase Year: 2000Vote Margin: 5-4Surprise Factor: 4/10Career Ideological Shift: 2/10

added by IJRin 3 rankings

John Paul Stevens

A Ford appointee billed as a moderate Republican, Stevens spent 35 years drifting steadily leftward until he was writing landmark liberal opinions like Atkins v. Virginia, banning execution of intellectually disabled defendants. By retirement he was the court's most reliably prog

Appointed By: Gerald FordExpected Leaning: ModerateSignature Case: Atkins v. VirginiaCase Year: 2002Vote Margin: 6-3Surprise Factor: 7/10Career Ideological Shift: 7/10

added by IJRJohn Paul Stevens