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1/ #scotus vacatea stay of execution in Alabama. J. Breyer dissents with another peek behind the red curtains: he wanted a delay till conference. The other 5 declined to wait. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor… 
2/ I do not recall any indication that death penalty stay applications are discussed at conference. By chance there is an upcoming conference. But over the summer, the court goes months without one. Is this a routine approach?
3/ J. Breyer may be trying to lay down a marker for the future: discuss death penalty cases at conference before deciding. In this case, the state already called off execution so the Court could have waited.
4/ But the conservatives may not wanted to have set a new precedent, which builds in even more delay into a process they find dilatory. That is my speculation
6/ @WilliamBaude suggests that #SCOTUS should "grant[] certiorari and oral argument in one of these shadow-docket cases so that some specific timeliness principles could be discussed, adjudicated, and adhered to." reason.com/volokh/2019/04…
7/ I suspect we are headed to that solution. There were five votes to chastise the petitioner's timeliness in the Bucklew v. Precythe, where it was not even an issue. #SCOTUS was sending a signal.
8/ The willingness to vacate the stay in Dunn v. Price, even over Breyer's dissent, suggests the conservatives are settled on this rule. They should make this determination explicit in an argued case.
