The justices apparently concluded that the case was a poor vehicle for deciding the question they had agreed to review.
The polling had no legal force; Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, contends a vote not sanctioned by Madrid would be unconstitutional, and the country's constitutional court is still deciding the question.
In June, the Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, likely deciding the question of whether there is a constitutional right to marry in all fifty states.
Knowing this, a recent biographer of Cather — Sharon O'Brien, an English professor at Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania — said that in deciding the question of whether Cather was a lesbian, she would hold herself to a very strict, general definition of that term.
Whereas Dennett (1976) takes the empirical evidence to be insufficient for deciding the question of whether dreams are experiences, more recent authors (Flanagan 2000; Metzinger 2003; Revonsuo 2006; Rosen 2013; Windt 2013) suggest otherwise.
Since Batson understands empathy primarily as an emotional phenomenon, it should also be kept in mind that the research discussed above is not at all relevant for deciding the question of whether or not sophisticated mindreading abilities are required for full blown moral agency.
