involved as u.s. solicitor general. in that position, to which she was nominated by president obama, it was kagan who decided which case the united states government would argue before the supreme court, thus, these recusals are aimed at disspelling any potential conflicts of interest. now, this means that many cases this term will be heard by only eight justices, leaving open the strong possibility that there will be ties in the rulings of 4-4. in such cases the opinion of the lower court is affirmed and no new precedent is set. we spoke with one former staff lawyer of the solicitor general's office to see how the justices themselves approached those situations. >> the court does not want to waste not only the party's time but their own time in doing everything just to have a 4-4 decision, but nothing in the law will have changed. so i do think those eight are going to try to get together and come up with decisions. >> justice kagan had to leave the bench quietly when the second case came before