[etcb]

It's all wrapped up in the same case, now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court below found the payments unconstitutional.

I think there was a case out of California (Hollingsworth v. Perry) where the lower courts ruled against a voter approved referendum (Prop 8) and the state refused to appeal. The proponents of the referendum attempted to carry the appeal to the Supreme Court, but the Court ruled that while the State could appeal, the proponents had no standing. Sometime it just depends on whose ox is being gored.

[Cboldt]

-- Sometime it just depends on whose ox is being gored. --

Courts are outcome-driven institutions.