Reading The Tea Leaves On Shelby County v. Holder

Based on today’s decision in Maryland v. King, there are now three opinions outstanding from the February sitting (Shelby County v. Holder, Peugh v. United States, and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant), and three Justices who have no majority opinion for that sitting yet (the Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, and Justice Sotomayor).

Making predictions is always a risky enterprise, but I suspect that the Chief Justice assigned Shelby County (the Voting Rights Act challenge) to himself.  (If so, as William S. notes in the comment thread, Sotomayor has recused herself from Italian Colors, meaning Scalia would have that case and Sotomayor would have Peugh.)  We’ll know within a few weeks!  And as an aside, who would have guessed that Peugh would take longer to decide than Maryland v. King?

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes