Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt died unexpectedly on March 29. See this story. He was on the panel that heard Soltysik v Padilla on February 8, 2018, the California case on party labels for members of unqualified parties. The opinion hasn’t been issued yet. Thanks to How Appealing for this news.
So will the case have to be re-heard by a new panel (or the old panel with a replacement for the late Judge Reinhardt)? Or is there a chance that his opinion is already down on the record and the case could go forward without a re-hearing?