You’ve just filed a depublication request in a case where nobody filed a petition for review, and the Supreme Court issues an order stating, “The time for granting review on the court’s own motion is hereby extended to” a date about two months later. You think, “Wow! I knew I wrote a great depub request, but it was so good the court is now seriously thinking about taking the case and deciding it, even though no party asked the court to do that and even though the court hardly ever grants review on its own motion.”
Or, you’ve lost a case in the Supreme Court and you’ve just filed a rehearing petition and the court issues an order stating, “The time for granting or denying rehearing in the above-entitled case is hereby extended to,” again, a date about two months away. This time, you think, “Wow! I knew I could convince the court that its opinion sets California law back decades, even though the court hardly ever grants rehearing.”
In either situation, your second thought is, “I’ve got to call my clients to tell 
them this amazing news!” Our advice: step away from the phone.
In both cases, the extension orders are routine. As far as we can tell, the court now always extends its time to grant review on its own motion when a depublication request is filed in a case without a petition for review and it always extends its time to rule on a rehearing petition. The court is just keeping its options open. While it’s still possible the court will grant review on its own motion or will grant rehearing (but don’t bet on it), the extension order is no indication that that action is more likely than in any other case.
The court also can extend its time to rule on a petition for review. It doesn’t do that in every case, but the (lack of) significance of an extension order there is about the same as when the court extends its time to grant review on its own motion or to grant rehearing. When a client hopefully asked whether it was good news that the court extended its time to rule on a petition for review, our founder Ellis Horvitz, would accurately respond, “The extension is better than a denial, but not as good as a grant.” There’s not much more you can glean from an extension order.
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