On September 21, Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of southern California died at the age of 69. Here is the 9th circuit press release. She had been fighting cancer, but had sat on an oral arguments panel as recently as July 2011, and had authored her last opinion last month. She had been scheduled to be on the panel in Washington State Grange v Washington State Republican Party, the case against the Washington state top-two system. Normally the identity of appeals judges is not known that far in advance of an oral argument. But in this case, the 9th circuit had agreed that the same panel that struck down the Washington state top-two system in 2006 should hear the case again. The other two judges on the panel are also southern Californians: Judge Raymond C. Fisher and Judge Dorothy Nelson. Thanks to How Appealing for the news about Judge Rymer.