You knew it was going to happen. It had to.
But I didn't realize until today that it would only take around a week.
The first (star) footnote of today's opinion, which appears immediately after the composition of this two-judge panel (Judges O'Scannlain and Fletcher) reads: "This case was submitted to a panel that included Judge Kozinski,
who recently retired."
Well. That was definitely fast.
Though can I also point out that this case was argued and submitted almost two full years ago. In January of 2016.
Wow. That's a long time to take to write an opinion. Especially when, as here, the only thing the opinion does is to certify the relevant question to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Sort of makes you think that something else was going on here for the past two years, no? Something that Judge Kozinski's absence suddenly dispositively changed. (E.g., a dissent, a split panel, etc.)
Losing a judge on the panel sometimes matters. A lot.
