Argentina Gets No SCOTUS Review - Yet (Yawn)

To the surprise of nobody, the Supreme Court rejected Argentina's June 2013 request to review the Second Circuit's October 2012 decision that it violated the pari passu clause in its defaulted bonds. The court gave no reason, which is normal.

The August 2013 Second Circuit decision has not yet been appealed. The 90 day clock for Argentina to file starts running after the Second Circuit rejects its en banc review petition (who knows when, but soon).

This Supreme Court rejection of the June appeal was widely expected, especially since the Second Circuit itself snarkily observed in footnote 6  of its August decision that Argentina should have waited. All it means is that the saga continues.

Argentina is not precluded from raising the issues it raised in June when it appeals the whole case again sometime later this year -- or next -- depending on how long it takes for the remaining process in the Second Circuit to run. More interestingly, as my colleague Amanda Frost has observed, SCOTUS is free to raise issues on its own if and when it were to take the case.

So please do go back to your morning coffee--the end is not in sight.

More interesting to me are the non-participation of Justice Sotomayor, and the implications from President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's illness. But those are for another day.