The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied review in People v. Piper, a three-strikes resentencing case, but three justices recorded votes to grant.  As has been noted before, three is not enough.  Because of the case’s subject matter, which has been and continues to be the subject of numerous Supreme Court cases, and because the Court of Appeal’s opinion was not published, it’s possible that the votes for review were only to make the case a grant-and-hold, but we’ll never know.

The three votes for review were recorded by the court’s three newest justices — Goodwin Liu, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, and Leondra Kruger.  For those waiting for those three to vote as a bloc, this is the case.  We believe this is the first time these justices have voted together without any others joining them, including opinions and record votes on petitions for review.