Cal. R. 8.536
The Supreme Court may order rehearing as provided in rule 8.268(a).
(Subd (a) amended effective January 1, 2007.)
A petition for rehearing and any answer must comply with rule 8.268(b)(1) and (3). Any answer to the petition must be served and filed within eight days after the petition is filed. Before the Supreme Court decision is final and for good cause, the Chief Justice may relieve a party from a failure to file a timely petition or answer.
(Subd (b) amended effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective January 1, 2004.)
The time for granting or denying a petition for rehearing in the Supreme Court may be extended under rule 8.532(b)(1)(B). If the court does not rule on the petition before the decision is final, the petition is deemed denied.
(Subd (c) amended effective January 1, 2007.)
An order granting a rehearing must be signed by at least four justices; an order denying rehearing may be signed by the Chief Justice alone.
An order granting a rehearing vacates the decision and any opinion filed in the case and sets the cause at large in the Supreme Court.
Cal. R. Ct. 8.536
Advisory Committee Comment
Subdivision (b). Subdivision (b)(2)(A) recognizes the general rule that the denial of a petition for review of a Court of Appeal decision is final on filing. Subdivision (b)(2)(B)-(D) recognizes several additional types of Supreme Court decisions that are final on filing. Thus (b)(2)(B) recognizes that a dismissal, a transfer, and a retransfer under (b), (d), and (e), respectively, of rule 8.528 are decisions final on filing. A remand under rule 8.528(c) is not a decision final on filing because it is not a separately filed order; rather, as part of its appellate judgment at the end of its opinion in such cases the Supreme Court simply orders the cause remanded to the Court of Appeal for disposition of the remaining issues in the appeal.
Subdivision (b)(2)(C) recognizes that an order denying a petition for a writ within the court's original jurisdiction without issuance of an alternative writ or order to show cause is final on filing. The provision reflects the settled Supreme Court practice, since at least 1989, of declining to file petitions for rehearing in such matters. (See, e.g., In re Hayes (S004421) Minutes, Cal. Supreme Ct., July 28, 1989 ["The motion to vacate this court's order of May 18, 1989 [denying a petition for habeas corpus without opinion] is denied. Because the California Rules of Court do not authorize the filing of a petition for rehearing of such an order, the alternate request to consider the matter as a petition for rehearing is denied."].)
Subdivision (b)(2)(D) recognizes that an order denying a petition for writ of supersedeas is final on filing.