Well, options are nearly up in the prison litigation, so the Schwarzenegger administration and the state legal krew (ie Jerry Brown’s firm) are now begging the Supreme Court to muscle up against the 9th Circuit prison litigation panel.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration has made one last plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the legality of a federal court’s unprecedented order requiring California to shed nearly 40,000 inmates from its prison system over the next two years.

In court papers filed Tuesday night, state officials urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the case, following up on an appeal filed this past fall seeking to overturn a three-judge panel’s orders requiring swift action to relieve prison overcrowding. The Supreme Court will consider the request at its Jan. 15 conference. (SJ Merc)

So, in theory, we should know a lot more when the Court announces its next batch of writs of certiorari. If the Court denies cert, we pretty much know what happens. The Schwarzenegger “Plan B” goes into effect, and the release process is substantially sped up.  If the Court accepts the case, expect the legal fight to drag on for another few years.