The en banc Eleventh Circuit has declined to review last night’s panel decision in the Schiavo case by a vote of 10-2 [see update here], meaning that the next stage is to file a petition with Justice Kennedy (the Circuit Justice for the Eleventh Circuit) asking the Supreme Court to intervene. Justice Kennedy will refer any filed petitions and motions to the entire Court, which is the usual practice in all but routine petitions. It seems extremely likely to me that the Court will simply deny any petitions or motions in this case without comment.
The interesting question is, what happens after the Supreme Court declines to intervene? This post by Marty Lederman suggests that we might be in for another round of federal court decisions; the plaintiffs have amended their complaint to add a few more claims, and it looks like the cycle of appeals and petitions will continue.
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