The Volokh Conspiracy had posts on other convoluted split-opinion court cases, following up on the McCain-Feingold one. Eugene Volokh says

The Pentagon Papers case (New York Times Co. v. United States) didn't involve a hard-to-decipher lineup, though its legal rationale (if there is one) is hard to decipher -- because the 9 Justices produced 10 opinions. And none of the Justices was even Jewish.

I commented yesterday on the rather difficut-to-decipher lineup of the nine Justices in the campaign finance case. Thorne Loggins sent me this beauty, a true classic of the genre, from a decision of the full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (United States v. Rhynes, 218 F.3d 310 (2000)):

Judgment vacated and new trial awarded by published opinion. Judge KING announced the judgment of the Court, in which Judge WIDENER, Judge WILKINS, Judge LUTTIG, Judge WILLIAMS, Judge MICHAEL, Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, and Judge TRAXLER joined; wrote the opinion of the Court with respect to Part III, in which Judge WILKINS, Judge WILLIAMS, Judge MICHAEL, Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, and Judge TRAXLER joined; wrote the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts IV and V, in which Judge WIDENER, Judge WILKINS, Judge LUTTIG, Judge WILLIAMS, Judge MICHAEL, Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ and Judge TRAXLER joined; and wrote an opinion with respect to Parts I and II in which Judge WIDENER (except perhaps for a footnote), Judge LUTTIG (in part), Judge MICHAEL, and Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ joined. Judge WIDENER wrote an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Judge WILKINS wrote an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Judge WILLIAMS and Judge TRAXLER joined. Judge LUTTIG wrote an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Chief Judge WILKINSON wrote a dissenting opinion, in which Judge NIEMEYER joined. Judge NIEMEYER wrote a dissenting opinion, in which Chief Judge WILKINSON joined and in which Judge TRAXLER joined with respect to Parts I and II.

And in Judge Widener�s separate opinion: "I concur in the result and in Parts I, II, IV, and V of Judge King's opinion, except, perhaps, n. 11, maj. at 320, and will explain below. . . . So far as this concurrence may be at odds with it, then, I may not agree with n. 11."

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