The case of Hawkins v. Community Bank of Raymore is not in itself major of importance, but provides a taster of just how complex deadlocked issues could be moving forward.

As is customary, the justices did not reveal who was on which side of the case or give any reasoning for their decisions. The even split means that no nationwide precedent has been set and the Supreme Court leaves the ruling of the lower court intact.

The case itself revolved around whether spouses can be held as guarantors for bank loans. In 2008, the community Bank of Raymore in Missouri approved loans to a local company on the condition that the wives of the company’s owners also signed the guarantee. But after the company defaulted on the loans in 2012, the bank demanded payment from the two women in addition to the business. They then sued, claiming the bank discriminated against them simply because they were married to the men seeking the loans and that the bank had violated the US Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

The court ultimately ruled in favour of the bank, but the deadlocked Supreme Court decision leaves conflicting interpretations of the law on the books in a number of states. The Eighth Circuit ruling applies only to states in its jurisdiction, while a conflicting decision was made for states in the Sixth Circuit and another for those the Seventh.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s even split is potentially the first of several, as the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to consider President Obama’s choice of federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat. Pending before the court are high profile abortion cases, disputes over union fees and further challenges to President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and his executive orders on immigration.

Sources: RT; Bloomberg BNA