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If the court ties, the lower court’s ruling stands. That indecision can lead to a split between the federal circuit courts, an outcome that the justices are keen to avoid, said Lee Epstein of Washington University in St. Louis, one of the principal investigators for the Supreme Court Database.
“They can leave the law even murkier than it was before with a 4-4 split, so they work hard to minimize them,” Epstein said.
The court is not polarized enough to return a high number of ties, and if it is heading towards a tie the court has a lot of options to stop that from happening. Justices can write narrower opinions that they can agree on or they can order rearguments, effectively kicking the can down the road until a full court can lead to a decisive vote. Some justices may vote strategically to prevent a tie.”
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/03/the-supreme-court-can-deal-with-eight-justices.html