Interesting SCOTUS Dismissal: Don’t Change Issues After Cert Grant

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court issued a summary disposition in two antitrust cases—Visa v. Osborn and Visa v. Stoumbos—for which it had earlier granted certiorari. Here’s the text of yesterday’s ruling:

These cases were granted to resolve “[w]hether allegations that members of a business association agreed to adhere to the association’s rules and possess governance rights in the association, without more, are sufficient to plead the element of conspiracy in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act . . . .” Pet. for Cert. in No. 15-961, p. i, and No. 15-962, p. i. After “[h]aving persuaded us to grant certiorari” on this issue, however, petitioners “chose to rely on a different argument” in their merits briefing. City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan, 575 U. S. __, __ (2015) (slip op., at 7). The Court, therefore, orders that the writs in these cases be dismissed as improvidently granted.