BREAKING: #SCOTUS will not stop PA’s new congressional districts from going into effect, denying Pa Republicans’ request for a stay of the PA Supreme Court decision. There were no noted dissents. pic.twitter.com/m1MFx8r7QB

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 19, 2018

I called this case a long shot for a long time, but the fact that there was no noted dissents is puzzling given the long delay.  The claim was really a weak one and would have led to a huge number of lawsuits challenging state court cases striking down redistricting on state constitutional grounds. Here are some possibilities for the delay.

1, The Court was waiting for the lower court to rule, in case the lower court saw something worth pursing. Given that the interests were almost identical to this case, this does not make much sense, but for the timing.

2. A Justice decided to write, another Justice wrote a response, and the original Justice changed his or her mind.  Who knows?

3. A Justice or more needed more time to consider the issues, and was pondering a dissent but then decided not to write.