Surprising news from the Supreme Court’s conference today: the court denied a Ninth Circuit request to answer a state law question. The question in Delzer v. Berryhill involved the inheritance rights of twins conceived by in-vitro fertilization after their father’s death.
Normally, the Supreme Court is very obliging when the Ninth Circuit asks for help interpreting California law. Until today, the court had granted 13 requests in a row and 21 of the last 22, and the one denial during that time wasn’t even a real denial. There hadn’t been a flat “no” in over six years.
The Supreme Court didn’t waste any time in rejecting the Delzer request, ruling just 34 days after the case was docketed. That’s faster than usual for a response to the Ninth Circuit. Indeed, there’s another Ninth Circuit request that’s still pending even though it was docketed two weeks before Delzer.
Justice Ming Chin voted in Delzer to answer the question and keep the Ninth Circuit’s streak going. Justice Chin’s vote could be a signal of interest in the issue presented. Or it could simply reflect his interest in comity towards the federal court.