On Monday, the Supreme Court will issue its opinions in Professional Engineers in California Government v. Schwarzenegger, concerning the governor’s authority to unilaterally furlough state employees, and in St. John’s Well Child and Family Center v. Schwarzenegger, regarding the governor’s line-item veto power. Aside from the importance of the issues, the opinion filings are notable for their speed.
The court transferred the Professional Engineers case to itself on its own motion (which alone is a rarity) less than four months ago and it’s been just 23 days since the court heard argument in the matter. The timing is the same on the St. John’s case, except the court took that case by granting review instead of transferring the case.