Garland v. Vanderstok presented a challenge to the "Frame or Receiver" rule. (The press has dubbed it the "Ghost Gun" regulation.) The district court vacated the rule, and the Fifth Circuit denied a stay. The Solicitor General then petitioned for a stay of the lower-court ruling on the Supreme Court's emergency docket. Circuit Justice Alito entered a temporary administrative stay. When that time expired, Circuit Justice Alito extended the administrative stay for another four days, until Tuesday, August 8. What did this shadow docket delay mean? On Sunday, I observed that the extension was designed to allow dissenters to prepare a written dissent, or to allow more time for a majority to coalesce.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stayed the lower court's ruling. The vote was 5-4, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett in the majority. Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh noted their dissent, but they did not prepare a dissent. The four-day extension was apparently not granted to allow the dissenters time to prepare a dissent. (It is possible a draft dissent was circulated but was never published.) Rather, it seems the purpose of the extension was to try to cobble together a fifth vote to deny a stay. But a fifth vote was not to be had. Why? Because Justice Barrett declined to cast that vote.
Now Justice Barrett has told us that we should "read the opinion" to understand the Court's shadow docket rulings. But there was no analysis here. Just an unsigned order with no analysis.
