Monday, September 26, 2011

No petition for en banc review in Florida v. HHS

The Department of Justice has decided not to seek en banc review of the Eleventh Circuit's decision in Florida v. HHS.

(UPDATE: Here is a news story from Thomson Reuters confirming.)

Thus, the next big date (at least for the time being) is Wednesday. That is when the government's response is due at the Supreme Court in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama. Again, the administration potentially has several options before it. But the two most likely are to ask the Court (a) to hold the petition in Thomas More pending a forthcoming cert petition in Florida v. HHS, or (b) to agree with the petitioners that, in light of the clear split between the Sixth and Eleventh Circuit decisions (not to mention between both of them and the Fourth Circuit on the Anti-Injunction Act issue), certiorari should be granted.