AppellateBlog links to a Washington Post article that describes behind-the-scenes machinations at the 6th Court of Appeals on the University of Michigan case. The undergraduate portion of the case, which was never decided at the appelate level before the Supreme Court took it up, was delayed over either a technical motion or a desire to get two conservative judges to retire, depending on your view of things. Howard Bashman notes that the court's opinion failed because the chief 6th Circuit judge Boyce Martin was unable to get five of the nine judges (after removing the two conservatives in semi-retirement) to sign what he had thought was the majority opinion. The misconduct has been pursued by Judicial Watch, who will release the May 28th ruling on Martin's conduct when it is public.