“Federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity,” the Supreme Court concluded Monday, saying the late judge Stephen Reinhardt’s vote should not have been counted in a decision issued after his death. Reinhardt died March 29, 2018, but the 9th Circuit counted his vote after that. The upshot is that Judge Reinhardt’s vote made a difference.”The court decided that was unlawful. “But federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity.”Because the opinion is unsigned, lost perhaps for eternity will be the identity of the justice who penned that line. But it was not Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who noted that she “concurs in the judgment.”The case, Yovino v. Rizo, returns to the 9th Circuit.

Source: Washington Post February 25, 2019 14:48 UTC