I have just read a draft article by Dan Tokaji that revisits the history of one of the most debated voting-rights and constitutional law cases of the 1990s, Shaw v. Reno.  Dan cleverly examined Justice Blackmun's papers on the Court's internal deliberations and made several noteworthy discoveries, including this one:  at conference, the Court voted 6-3 to hold that the challengers had stated a claim under the Constitution.  Justice Souter voted with the majority on this outcome.  The case eventually came down as a 5-4 decision, with Justice Souter apparently switching his vote during the internal writing process.  According to Dan, there is no account of the reasons Justice Souter decided to switch his vote.  

The draft is posted on SSRN at this link:  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=896560

Richard Pildes
Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School, Feb-June 2006
Cambridge, MA 02138
phone:  617-496-7353
fax:  617-496-4863

Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law
Co-Director, NYU Center on Law and Security
NYU School of Law