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)
Further reading
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection (Bookshop|Amazon) is a powerful and fascinating look at the history of the disease and how its persistence continues to shape global health. The author, John Green...
A 1905 letter from Virginia Woolf offers comfort to anyone who lacks confidence in their own work. As a young, would-be writer, Woolf herself expressed doubt about her own abilities. It would be another 23 years before she published her...