[Kit cat]

It was Sotomayor! Very surprising!

[Ransomed]

I guess she turned it over to the whole court, from what I am seeing.

Freegards

[Viennacon]

She also granted that stay to the Little Sisters of the Poor.

[BuckeyeTexan]

No, Sotomayor didn't grant the stay on her own. She could have denied the stay on her own, but she chose to refer the stay request to the whole court.

If she had denied the stay request, Utah would have had the right to submit it to a second justice of their choice per standard SCOTUS procedure.

Utah would have chosen Scalia or Thomas. Either could, and likely would, have granted the stay or referred it to the whole court as Sotomayor did.

Sotomayor just circumvented that second stay request because she knew it was inevitable and simply referred it to the whole court herself rather than make Utah go through the legal motions.

IMHO, this is not indicative of her position in any way and is not a surprise. LL may or may not have more to offer by way of legal procedure, etc.