Wonder what wolf’s opinion is. It’s his case .
This is just a theory but go with me here. There are about to be 5 trump judges added to the Ninth. This week the Ninth randomly selected its en banc panel. Had the appeal been stayed last week a panel would have been selected after the stay and those trump appointees would be part of the random drawing. By staying the case only after the panel has been decided Judge Thomas gets to put Young out a year while locking in the most liberal panel possible i.e. one without the Trump appointees. I could be completely off base but the timing sure is suspect.