The Solicitor General’s Office – the part of the U.S. Department of Justice that handles litigation at the Supreme Court – has filed a petition for rehearing of the DAPA case. The request is for the Supreme Court to rehear the DAPA case after a ninth justice has been appointed to the Court.
The Solicitor General’s petition acknowledges that it is “exceedingly rare” for the Supreme Court to grant rehearing, but that the Court has done so in the past after being deadlocked as a result of a vacancy on the Court, as in this case.
Whether or not the Supreme Court grants rehearing, it is possible that this case could go before the Supreme Court in the future, because if the Supreme Court does not grant rehearing, then the case could continue in the federal district court in South Texas, and then again at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and then eventually at the Supreme Court.