It wasn’t clear from Tuesday’s arguments how the justices overall were leaning, but Justices Kagan and Jackson were joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor in seeming sympathetic toward Waetzig’s view of Rule 60, and Justice Clarence Thomas also made a passing comment that seemed unpersuaded by one of Halliburton’s main points. Justice Roberts, however, sounded relatively skeptical, and Justices Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett didn’t speak during the argument — which, at roughly 49 minutes, was among the shortest of the term.
The dispute between Waetzig and Halliburton hasn’t attracted widespread interest, but the parties and some observers have said the implications are considerable. Waetzig, for instance, has averred during briefing that the Tenth Circuit’s holding would create a “twilight zone between interlocutory and final matters where courts bizarrely would be powerless to correct mistakes and frauds.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has voiced a contrary view, predicting in an amicus brief that a win for Waetzig would invite “litigation gamesmanship.”
