Cite as: 510 U. S. 1309 (1994)
Opinion in Chambers
the other factors favored the applicants' position. Those other factors, however, point the other way.3
The core of the applicants' submission is that the Court of Appeals fundamentally misread our opinion and mandate in Casey in determining that the District Court erred in reopening the record and continuing its injunction against enforcement of the Pennsylvania statute.4 Although applicants are right as a general matter in arguing that this Court has a special interest in ensuring that courts on remand follow the letter and spirit of our mandates, see, e. g., In re Sanford Fork & Tool Co., 160 U. S. 247, 255-256 (1895), I am not convinced (nor, I believe, would my colleagues be) that the Court of Appeals's opinion represents such an arguable departure from our mandate as to warrant discretionary review or, in the end, an award of the relief the applicants seek.
3 I note in this regard that the availability of further opportunities to test the constitutionality of the statute mitigates somewhat the quantum of harm that might ensue. The Court of Appeals acknowledged, correctly, that the applicants or other potential litigants remain free to test the constitutionality of the Act "as applied." See 14 F. 3d 848, 862, nn. 18, 21 (CA3 1994). Since I am convinced that a majority of this Court would likely hold a further facial challenge by the parties in this case to be precluded by the opinion and mandate in Casey, there is no occasion to consider here the Court of Appeals's broader assertion that, even in cases where a statute's facial validity depends on an empirical record, see Fargo Women's Health Organization v. Schafer, 507 U. S. 1013 (1993) (O'Connor, J., concurring in denial of stay), a decision rejecting one such challenge must be dispositive as against all other possible litigants. Also potentially relevant to the irreparable injury calculus is the District Court's "considerable doubt" whether the Commonwealth is, in fact, prepared to begin immediate enforcement of several of the disputed provisions. See 822 F. Supp. 227, 237 (ED Pa. 1993).
4 The applicants' contention that the Court of Appeals's ruling "conflicts" with decisions recognizing district court discretion to decide matters left open by a mandate, see, e. g., Quern v. Jordan, 440 U. S. 332, 347, n. 18 (1979), cf. this Court's Rule 10.1(c), amounts to no more than a restatement of their basic claim, i. e., that the District Court's reading of Casey, and not the Third Circuit's, was the correct one.
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