The Supreme Court has issued a unanimous per curiam opinion in the Little Sisters of the Poor case. Rather than deciding the legal issues before it, the Court vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, which was adverse to the Little Sisters, and sent the case back to that court so the parties can be given “sufficient time to resolve any outstanding issues between them.”
Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor wrote separately to emphasize that the Court hasn’t decided anything.
Ed Whelan calls the decision a punt, which clearly it is. However, Ed notes that a punt isn’t always a bad thing.
I agree, and punting may be a sensible outcome in this case. In any event, as Ed points out, it beats a 5-3 victory for the government or a 4-4 affirmance, which would have left in place the rulings below.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.