[Synthesist]

There has been a lot of "news" media talk that because of the unfortunate death of Justice Scalia, the current SCOTUS session would result in rendering some 4-4 ties in pending court decisions. Such tie decisions would result in the lower court decisions being held.

But... I heard something very interesting this morning that confirmed what I had suspected. The Chief Justice of the USSC has the authority to call a rehearing of a case. Because this case (and others during this session) may end in a tie (which would then let the lower court ruling stand), the Chief Justice can withhold releasing a tie decision and wait until the court vacancy is filled before requesting a rehearing in front of the full court.

[Mouton]

The key points are:

If it is decided the decision from the appellate court remains unchanged but only effective in that jurisdiction.

If Roberts is calling for a redo, he is expecting the result to be 4-4 now and EXPECTS the vacancy to be filled. I hope he is wrong on the refilling.

[knarf]

VERY interesting .... but ..... Roberts ?

Hmmmmmm