It hasn’t been announced yet, but the Supreme Court will probably file its opinion in People v. Grimes a week from today, January 5. That’s the last day of the 90-day period and, because Thursday is a court holiday, it’s also the next regular opinion filing day.
Grimes is an automatic appeal from a January 1999 judgment of death. The court seems to be struggling with this one a bit. It was first argued on the late May calendar. The court subsequently asked for supplemental briefing on three questions regarding harmless error. A few weeks after supplemental briefing was complete, the court granted the defendant’s application for additional oral argument and the case was re-argued on the October calendar.
A trivia question: will Grimes be the last opinion Justice Marvin Baxter signs as a sitting justice or the first one he signs as a pro tem justice? Baxter did not seek reelection and, under the state constitution, his term doesn’t end “until” January 5, the day the Grimes opinion will likely be issued. I’m guessing he’ll be a pro tem in Grimes and, of course, in the dozen cases argued in November and December with opinions yet to be filed.
The opinion (probably) can be viewed next Monday starting at 10:00 a.m., just two or three hours before Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar and Leondra Kruger are sworn in as Supreme Court justices.