Opinion ID: 1194191
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Consolidation of Pierce with review of the Stewart orders.

Text: On March 11, 2004, the district court sua sponte ordered that Pierce, the plaintiffs' affirmative suit, be consolidated with Stewart, over which the same district court had jurisdiction. According to the district court, the issue of the continuing viability of the Stewart injunction had come up indirectly in various different ways in the Pierce litigation, and the court concluded that rather than beat around the bush, [the court] need[ed] to just deal with these issues direct[ly]. The court explained that it would receive evidence whether existing Stewart orders should be revised, updated, modified, expanded, and/or vacated at the trial already scheduled in Pierce. The parties did not object to the consolidation, and proceeded to brief the court on the relevant developments in the law in the years since Stewart was first decided.