On January 10, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the state of North Carolina’s request for a stay, in the case over whether the legislative districts represent an unlawful racial gerrymander and whether the state must hold special legislative elections with new districts. See the Election Law Blog here.
The federal court ruling conflicts with a state court ruling on the same issues, and the state court had the Alabama decision to consider.
Perhaps the SCOTUS wants to have a full complement of justices before letting a lower-court decision slide through on a 4-4 decision. And if the SCOTUS overturns the NC congressional case they would logically want the Appeals Court and District Court consider the ramifications of that decision.
The latest thinking about filling the vacancy on the US Supreme Court is that it won’t come for several months. All sides seem to want to get the hearings on Senator Sessions over with first.