SCOTUS Stays Ohio Jailbreak Order on Second Round

On May 26, I noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied USDOJ a stay of Ohio District Court orders regarding release of prisoners due to the pandemic. The reason was that DOJ had not checked the box of asking the court of appeals first regarding one of two orders. I also predicted that DOJ would be back if USCA6 said no. Sho’nuff.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied the stay Monday.  See the last three pages in the set of lower court opinions filed with the Supreme Court. DOJ applied for a stay the same day.

Procedurally, a stay application is addressed to the Supreme Court Justice assigned to the circuit, which for the Sixth Circuit is Justice Sotomayor. In significant cases the Circuit Justice generally refers the application to the full court, but in this case Justice Sotomayor issued the stay herself.

UPON CONSIDERATION of the application of counsel for the applicants, the response filed thereto, and the reply, IT IS ORDERED that the District Court’s April 22 and May 19 orders are hereby stayed pending disposition of the Government’s appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and further order of the undersigned or of the Court.

I suspect that from the court’s deliberations on the first round she knew that the full court would issue the stay if she did refer it, so there was no need to make the referral.