hold five

hold five
 v. phr.— «As the justices write and circulate their drafts, colleagues might have second thoughts about how they voted right after oral arguments. The author of the opinion for the court tries not to lose the majority (five of the nine). “Holding five,” as it is called, means the author must make compromises. But a compromise for one justice might drive another one to the dissenting side. In a close case, justices writing a dissent hope to pick off a vacillating justice by exploring potential weaknesses in the majority’s reasoning.» —“June offers no respite for Supreme Court justices” by Joan Biskupic in Washington, D.C. USA Today June 5, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)