Good point, but if SCOTUS was about to go in the opposite direction, issuing a broad ruling protecting the religious rights of business owners to run their businesses according to their moral beliefs, wouldn’t that make sense in chucking the case as well?
I mean, the Justices certainly know how the HobbyLobby case will go. I don’t think they’d remand a case back to the lower courts based on a ruling that hasn’t been issued yet ... They’d just drop the case completely (as they have apparantly done) and let any future action by the plaintiff or defendent wait for the ruling.
Apparently, the last ruling was from the New Mexico state Supreme Court. I don’t know the process and how they went immediately to the US Supreme Court.
Perhaps Scotus reason was that it hadn’t gone through the process of appeal. The article didn’t list any reason from the Scotus other than that they declined the case.