Answer: The factors that can cause two similar Supreme Court cases to have different outcomes are: different attorneys, different Supreme Court Justices, when/date/era, cases of precedent, other pending court cases, and even though the cases are similar there would be differences and those differences that appear to be small, may actually be significant.
Explanation: Different attorneys present cases and specific points of the case differently. How cases are presented, what evidence is presented, and what elements of the case they are requested the decision be based on can all determine the outcome. Different Supreme Court Justices have different views, experiences, and interpretations of the law. Some are liberal and some are conservative, so based on that they will lean one way or the other. When the case has come before the Supreme Court is extremely important. What is happening in the country at the time, the view of the American people, what the individual states are doing, and what kind of movements or pushes that are going on in society all play in to how cases will be viewed. For example, if gender or race discrimination are getting a lot of focus in society and other related court cases are going on, the Supreme Court will likely take that into consideration in their interpretation of the law and react more liberally if the law is conservative in nature but society as a majority is pushing the issue to the liberal side. In looking at similar cases, there are always differences, and those differences may be the deciding factor in the outcome of a case. For example, you may have a case of a 17 year old involved in one court case and an 18 year old involved in another, so even though they are only one year apart in age, in the eyes of the law, one is a minor and one is an adult.
