In addition to handing down landmark decisions on religious freedom and public sector unions, the Supreme Court announced cases that it will not be hearing. Only a small percentage of appeals to the Supreme Court are ever taken up, and this term there are many high-profile California appeals that failed to make the final cut.
Drakes Bay Oyster Company – the Bay Area oyster farm has operated in the federal Point Reyes National Seashore for decades, but the Obama administration appeased environmental idealists and declined to renew the company’s lease, defying investors’ prior expectations and ignoring local support for the company.
Low Carbon Fuel Standard – the Supreme Court let stand a 9th Circuit ruling supporting then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s climate-change policy, which requires fuel producers to reduce “carbon intensity” by 10% by 2020, and measures that intensity not just when the fuel is burned but through the entire production process.
Mount Soledad Cross – the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal regarding the famous cross at a war memorial, which the plaintiffs describe as an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the state. Justice Samuel Alito explained that the case is not finalized yet–it had simply failed to exhaust all lower court appeals.
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