Still Waiting to Revisit Missouri v Holland?

I’m in Tokyo for the Spring semester teaching in Temple Law’s semester abroad program.  But that hasn’t stopped me from watching the Supreme Court, particularly its decision on whether or not to revisit Missouri v Holland via the case of Carol Anne Bond and the question of the scope of Congress’s power to implement U.S. treaty obligations (SCOTUS blog has many, if not most, of the relevant pleadings on-line here).

When I blogged about it last October, I’d assumed we’d know by now whether the Court was going to take up the case, or as I thought, decline certiorari.  Well, it’s now mid-January and we’re still waiting.  As John Elwood notes over at SCOTUS blog, the Bond case was relisted again this week — making it six times now for those of you keeping count.  I guess the best we can say about the continued delay is that it’s hard to imagine the Court continuing to relist it much longer (although who am I to say that they won’t go for lucky number 7 next).  In any case, it’s probably worth keeping a closer eye on the Court in the weeks ahead to see if it decides to grant or deny cert.  The latter decision could have especially large foreign affairs law implications in theory, if not in practice.