The U.S. Supreme Court's bold new conservative supermajority was nowhere to be found during the first seven months of the October 2022 term.

As investigative reporting embroiled some members in ethics scandals, the body that had only recently ended Roe v. Wade seemed to be keeping a fairly low profile. By April, opinions had started to pick up from the slow drip of the term's early months, but they were in fairly obscure cases involving bankruptcy law or sovereign immunity. Votes were either 9-0 or featured scrambled lineups lacking any obvious partisan signals.