HIGH COURT ALL TIED UP

Justice Antonin Scalia’s death leaves the Supreme Court with four justices appointed by Republican presidents and four appointed by Democrats, raising the possibility of frequent ties. We look at what happens when that’s it the case.

The Supreme Court is about to get tied up in knots.

Without Justice Antonin Scalia on the bench, the court will muddle through the remainder of its 2015 term — and possibly into the 2016 term starting in October — with eight justices.

Four were appointed by Republican presidents, four by Democratic presidents. And they usually vote that way on divided cases. That raises the specter of frequent 4-4 ties.

What happens then? The high court’s ruling is rendered almost meaningless; it leaves the most recent decision intact, usually from a federal appeals court or a top state court. There is no new, national precedent created by the nation’s highest court.

That could be the case on some of the court’s most important cases this term: Texas’ restrictions on abortion clinics could remain intact, as could the same appeals court’s decision striking down President Obama’s immigration plan. Conversely, a voting rights case from Texas and a public employees union case from California could break the way liberals want.

The situation is far from unprecedented. For one thing, the high court is left with just eight justices when one of them recuses himself or herself from a case.

And when previous justices have died in office or retired before successors could be confirmed, the court has gone forward with eight members — sometimes for months when confirmation hearings drag on or a nominee is rejected.

An example: When Justice Lewis Powell retired from the court in June 1987, it took President Ronald Reagan three tries to confirm a nominee, mostly due to the Senate’s rejection of Robert Bork. It wasn’t until Anthony Kennedy was confirmed in February 1988 that the court returned to having nine justices, a gap of more than seven months.