As a general matter, the Supreme Court hands down opinions when they are ready. That opinions came at such a slow pace this term perhaps reflects the fact that the Justices were taking more time to write fewer opinions. Moreover, it is unsurprising that the biggest cases of the year will often take the longest. The affirmative action cases, for example, were argued on Halloween but came down on the penultimate day of the term. It took some time to muster together 240 pages of opinions!
Still, there is some conventional wisdom that the Court staggers the release of the biggest cases on the final week of the term. The Chief Justice, the thinking goes, follows some sort of strategy that considers how the decisions will play in the public sphere. If this conventional wisdom is correct, I can think of a few possible strategies. First, the Chief Justice may try to mix up the conservative and liberal results on a given day so the Court seems balanced. Second, the Court may try to cram in all conservative decisions on one day, and all liberal decisions on another. Third, the Court can save the most conservative rulings for the final day of the term, which this year came before a long Fourth of July weekend. That way, they will be buried in the press. All of these strategies rely on contestable marketing strategies, which I don't think any on person (let alone the Chief Justice) can understand.
But is there actually a strategy? Let's look at the big cases for June 2023:
