JUST IN: As it said it would do, DOJ asks #SCOTUS, in application to Justice Ginsburg, to halt the upcoming trial in the Census citizenship question case pending the court's action on DOJ's request that SCOTUS resolve whether Commerce Sec. Ross can be deposed in the case. 
* = Actually, I should clarify. Since this, technically, is styled as a request to expand the current stay (which came from the full court), I'm not sure whether this will first go to RBG or to the full court. Here's the filing: documentcloud.org/documents/5023…
And, here is DOJ's underlying mandamus petition at #SCOTUS, which is Docket No. 18-557. supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/1…
(FWIW, the #SCOTUS public information office says that the stay application was submitted to Justice Ginsburg, as I initially suspected. So, that's where that's at! But, of course, she's likely to ultimately refer the request to the full court.)
The trial court judge, US District Judge Jesse Furman, turned down the stay request last Friday in a colorful opinion:
Later Friday, the 2nd Circuit also denied the request, without any real opinion and without even waiting for the plaintiffs to file their opposition:
Which brought the stay request to SCOTUS. The trial, as of now, is scheduled to start on Nov. 5, and the parties have been submitting various filings daily at the district court in the case preparing for the trial.
For people wondering about the Ginsburg/circuit justice issue, see this thread for more info on what that's all about:
