Short-handed Supreme Court delays action in three cases
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is offering new evidence that the short-handed court is having trouble getting its work done.
The justices have yet to schedule three cases for arguments that were granted full review in January, about a month before Justice Antonin Scalia died. The cases involve separation of church and state, class-action lawsuits and property rights, issues that often split liberal and conservative justices.
Their absence from the calendar of cases that are being argued this fall suggests that the justices believe they may divide 4 to 4, and are waiting for a ninth justice to join them.
The court on Friday released its argument calendar for late November and early December.
Senate Republicans have refused to act on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to fill Scalia's seat.
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