Portal:Supreme Court of the United States

“ United States, 539 U. S. 69, 82 (2003) (“ [S] ettled law permits a quorum to proceed to judgment when one member of the panel dies or is disqualified.”) . With the exception of one recent decision issued by the Ninth Circuit after Judge Reinhardt’s death but subsequently withdrawn, see supra, at 1 n., we are aware of no cases in which a court of appeals panel has purported to issue a binding decision that was joined at the time of release by less than a quorum of the judges who were alive at that time. ”

“ Invoking this rule, innumerable court of appeals decisions hold that when one of the judges on a three-judge panel dies, retires, or resigns after an appeal is argued or is submitted for decision without argument, the other two judges on the panel may issue a decision if they agree. ”

“ But federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity.
We therefore grant the petition for certiorari, vacate the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered. Justice Sotomayor concurs in the judgment.
↑ In Altera Corp. v. Commissioner, 2018 WL 3542989 (CA9, July 24, 2018) , decided four months after Judge Reinhardt died, his vote was initially counted as one of the two judges in the majority. ”