A couple of related developments on the California prison situation happened late last Friday.

After vowing that the Assembly's scaled-down version of the prison cutback would not pass the Senate, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg caved and let the Assembly version go to a vote. It was approved and sent to the Governor. Most importantly, the bill lacks Steinberg's pet provision to cynically create a commission with the power to rewrite sentencing law, for the purpose of insulating the Legislature from the political heat that would follow any major watering down.  Kevin Yamamura, Steve Wiegand and Jim Sanders have this story for the SacBee.

Also on Friday, the Supreme Court denied a stay of the three-judge district court's order to prepare a plan for a massive throwing open of the prison doors. As I expected, Justice Kennedy referred the application to the full court. The order is here.

The application for stay presented to Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the Court is denied. In denying the stay, the Court takes note of the fact that the three-judge district court has indicated that its final order will not be implemented until this Court has had the opportunity to review the district court's decree.

In others words, Judges Reinhardt, Henderson, and Karlton, don't think for an instant that denial of the stay indicates any kind of approval of what you have done so far. That kind of BTW note is unusual. Most denials are without comment. It seems to be a warning shot.