Thanks. Odd. An alternative explanation is that Scalia spoke up and said he’d rather look at the other case becaue he thought it was stronger.
Otherwise, why would Thomas bring it forward, and then not vote for it?
I suppose the question is naive. SCOTUS does what it pleases, no doubt.
I was surmising on the SCOTUS rejection thread that Scalia and Thomas may have gotten together and decided to take the Wrotnowski case instead because Donofrio said it had less baggage.
“Otherwise, why would Thomas bring it forward, and then not vote for it?”
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Because that is standard procedure when an application is denied by the first Justice and then presented to a second Justice. It has nothing to do with merits of argument or case. It’s just what they do as standard procedure. You can check this yourself by browsing through the SCOTUS Docket.
See page 4 of http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/reportersguide.pdf (found on Donofrio’s site):
“If a Justice acts alone to deny an application, a zetitioner may reapply to any other Justice of his or her choice, and theoretically can continue until a majority of the Court has denied the application. ***In practice, applications usually are referred to the full Court by the second Justice to avoid such a prolonged procedure.***”