Good morning and welcome to Supreme Court Brief! Decisions! Decisions! The justices are expected to issue decisions this morning at 10 a.m. That should help to eat away at the 30 remaining cases. We take a look at a potentially expensive unanswered question in Monday's bankruptcy ruling. The justices want the solicitor general's views on a cyber-spying petition. And a new study examines just how conservative the Supreme Court is today.

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Daniel Geyser is chair of Haynes and Boone's Supreme Court practice. Courtesy photo

A $100 Million Refund?

Supreme Court decisions don't always answer every question raised by those who sought the justices' review. That was the result in a bankruptcy case decided on Monday. The justices left unanswered one potentially very expensive question and another fundamental one.

In Siegel, Trustee of Circuit City Stores Liquidating Trust v. Fitzgerald, Acting U.S. Trustee for Region 4, the justices ruled that Congress' 2017 increase in fees paid by bankrupt companies, which was necessary to meet a U.S. Trustee budget shortfall, violated the uniformity requirement in the Constitution's bankruptcy clause. Why? Because the increase didn't also apply in two states overseen by a bankruptcy administrator.