In some cases it's actually a guaranteed liberal win, at least for a while. Whole Woman?s Health v. Hellerstedt on the docket could give broad discretion to restrict abortion across the country if it went 5-4, but now that Scalia is absent the worst that can happen is a 4-4 split, upholding the lower court's affirmation of the Texas law, which means that the restrictions could only apply to states within the Fifth Circuit?s sphere of influence.
And it's likely that many cases "decided" by a tie vote will be reargued: