We’ve spent a good portion of the last two weeks at conferences discussing the regulatory takings case now pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, Murr v. Wisconsin, No. 15-214.
The biggest question most had was why the Court had not scheduled oral arguments. There was a lot of speculation and gossip about the Chief Justice perhaps holding off on OA because the Court was one Justice short. Recall that cert was granted, but shortly thereafter Justice Scalia died, leading to speculation that there was not a clear five-Justice consensus for how to analyze the issues on the eight-Justice Court. But no concrete answers.
Well, maybe they heard all the chatter over at 1 First Street NE, because on Friday, the Court issued this argument calendar, and lo and behold, look what’s on calendar for Monday, March 20, 2017.
The questions remain unanswered: Will the Court have its ninth Justice by then? Are they going forward without the seat filled? We don’t know, of course. But it should make for an intriguing argument. Stay tuned.