Even Dogs Are Seeking Emergency SCOTUS Action

A 120-pound Anatolian shepherd wasn't the only dog euthanized this week, but he was the only one euthanized who had a plea pending in the Supreme Court. As ABC News reports, the dog named Bruce in California's Ventura County had a history of biting people, and the Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center launched a bid to save him after a court ordered him euthanized. As part of that effort, attorney Dan Bolton filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court asking that justices allow Bruce to stay alive until the issue had time to move through the lower courts.

"Alas for Bruce, the request to the court came too late," notes the New York Times. The dog was euthanized on Wednesday, about 45 minutes after the motion arrived at the Supreme Court and before justices could act on it. The Times takes a bigger-picture look at the issue, seeing it as an example of how the court's fast-track docket has dramatically expanded in recent years. Justice Elena Kagan—who had previously complained that the court's own willingness to grant such requests had encouraged the surge—formally denied Bruce's moot application on Thursday and closed the book on the unusual case.