The U.S. Supreme Court often has the final say on America’s most important legal issues. In 1973, the court ruled that women have a right to abortion. By 54 votes, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal health care law, known as Obamacare, is permitted by the Constitution in 2012 and the court ruled that same-sex couples can marry last June. But on May 16, the court could not decide an issue it was asked to settle: Could the U.S. government require employers to provide workers with health insurance that pays for birth control? That question had four judges on one side and four on the other. With no majority, the Supreme Court asked lower courts to find a compromise. The case put the U.S. government against groups such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, which opposes birth control on religious grounds. The tie vote has become the new normal for the Supreme Court, since the death in February of conservative Judge Antonin Scalia. His death left the court’s remaining eight justices divided with four generally taking the liberal side and four the conservative side.
