WhiskeyJuvenile posted:

Simplifying matters:

The federal court system has three layers: district court, circuit court, and the supreme court. Each district and circuit court has particular geographic jurisdiction. The two relevant courts today, the 4th Circuit and the DC Circuit cover, for the purposes of the litigation at issue, Virginia and DC respectively. Both the 4th Circuit (ACA subsidies are ok) and the DC Circuit (ACA subsidies are not OK) are appeals courts. They reached conflicting decisions. Ordinarily, if circuit courts disagree, this is usually a sign that if the case were appealed to the Supreme Court from either (or both) of them, the Supreme Court would hear the appeal to ensure that the law is uniform across the country. However, appeal to the Supreme Court is not the only avenue of appeal from a Circuit Court decision. Circuit Court appeals are heard by randomly selected panels of three judges from the judges in the circuit (with particular exceptions involving senior judges and occasionally district court judges sitting on a panel). Decisions by a three-judge panel are capable of being appealed to an en banc panel, which is typically all of the active judges in the circuit (9th Circuit notwithstanding: they have too many judges to have them all in en banc, so they randomly choose a 11-judge panel).