TODAY IS THE DAY
(with Addendum)

6:00 a.m.     Today is Thursday, June 7, 2018. In all probability this is the pivotal day that will determine the outcome of the lawsuits between the Diocese of South Carolina on one side and the Episcopal Church and the Church diocese on the other. The first lawsuit was entered on January 4, 2013, almost five and a half years ago (we were all much younger then), when the Diocese of South Carolina sued the Episcopal Church. We all know the anguish this terrible legal war has brought. I do not even want to think about the millions of dollars it has cost. The whole thing has been a shameful scandal and tragedy; and the sooner it gets over the better. This has been by far the darkest episode in the long and (mostly) great history of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

How are you going to spend the day? Some people will spend it in prayer and fasting, at home or in church. I plan to spend the day working in my garden, the best therapy I know. The work refreshes my body, and the beauty of the enveloping nature buoys my soul. The weather has been perfect lately, sunny, mild, and low humidity. If nothing else, I can sit in a shady spot of my beautiful little Garden of Eden and listen to the mockingbirds. I always think they are singing for me as if to say: Rejoice, for this is the day the Lord has made. Whatever care I may have seems less worrisome after awhile.

The nine Supreme Court justices will meet this morning and decide which of the 183 cases before them today should be accepted for review. Actually, that has probably already been decided. Seven of the justices participate in the "cert pool," in which one of the "clerks," or assisting lawyers (each justice has four) takes a petition for cert, researches it and summarizes it with a recommendation for approval or denial. The assigned clerk distributes his or her opinion to all of the justices in the pool. Two justices do not participate, Alito and Gorsuch. That means their (overworked) clerks have to study each petition arriving at the court and make a recommendation separately. Considering the enormous work load the justices have, they naturally rely on their clerks' work. So, whichever clerk was assigned the SC church case in the pool has already decided more or less what the court will do. 

It is entirely possible the justices will decide today to postpone a decision. They have two more conferences scheduled for this court session, June 14 and June 21. They could put off a decision until then. However, they naturally want to clear out all of the cases this month so as not to carry over anything into the next session that runs from October 2018 to June of 2019.

So, in all probability, the justices will vote this morning on whether to grant or deny cert to DSC's petititon. If four or more vote to grant, it is done. If three or fewer vote to grant, the petition is rejected. Given the huge number of important cases before them, the justices lean toward denying all but the most outstanding cases. They typically grant cert to only two, three or four cases in each conference.

If they grant cert, the lawsuits will move into a new phase as the two sides prepare to appear in the high court. DSC is appealing the South Carolina supreme court decision of Aug. 2, 2017. A hearing will be scheduled in the next session; and a written decision will be handed down by the end of the session which is about a year from now.

If they deny cert, the SC supreme court decision of Aug. 2, 2017, stands as the final word on the property settlement. The Episcopal Church side will almost certainly step up its present move to repossess the properties and restore them as Episcopal churches. This should occur rather soon. It is interesting to note that SCOTUS has not issued a "stay" on the SC supreme court decision as it could have. 

There are two other avenues of litigation going on, but both of these will probably be heavily influenced by a Supreme Court denial. In the circuit court, DSC has a trivial suit under the "Betterments Statute" that I expect will be dismissed. In the federal court, there will be a trial on the dispute of which side owns the pre-schism entity of the diocese. I expect that will lean to the Church side too, especially if the Supreme Court denies cert today. However, the federal case does not involve the properties of the parishes. That was settled in the state supreme court decision; and the Church has already moved to reclaim the properties of the 28 parishes in question.

Thus, one can hardly overestimate the importance of what is happening today. 

Unfortunately, the court does not announce its decisions on the days they are made. They usually wait until the next Monday morning to dump them all at once on the public. We can expect to know the decision on Monday, June 11, at 10:00 a.m. ET, when court personnel usually distribute the decisions to the public and media.

There are three possible announcements: postponement to a later conference this month, granting of cert (put on an "Orders List"), and denial of cert.

There are two websites that are worth watching. One is the official Court site. It gives the details of the case. Find it here . The other is "Cert Pool." Find it here .

The Supreme Court posts the decisions about cert on its website. Find the most recent "Orders List" here. If you notice, the last was issued on Monday, June 4. The cases are listed by number. The number for the SC church case is 17-1136. The next order list will appear here .

I will, or course, relay the news on this blog the moment I receive it. I will return next Monday morning.


12:00 p.m.     ADDENDUM

Here is a credible and important hint of today's decision on cert. Yesterday, on the SCOTUSblog website, Aurora Barnes posted "Petitions to Watch/Conference of June 7." Find it here . Barnes listed 13 cases to watch for possible cert. The South Carolina church case was not one of them. Neither was the Presbyterian case from Minnesota. It is interesting to  note that Barnes had chosen the SC case as "Petition of the Day" on March 15, 2018.

Thus, an informed observer of the Supreme Court apparently believes the SC case will not be granted cert, not even make it into the most important range in today's conference.

This news should give cautious optimism to the Episcopal Church side and cautious pessimism to the independent diocesan side.

SCOTUSblog is also reporting that the decisions (orders) decided today will be announced on Monday at 9:30 a.m. Find this at the SCOTUSblog link above.