Aileen Rizo sued a California school official under the federal Equal Pay Act, alleging that she was paid less because of her sex. An en banc Ninth Circuit decision changed the circuit’s law, but the listed author, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, had died before the decision was filed. The Ninth Circuit counted his vote, treating the opinion as a binding majority decision. The Supreme Court vacated and remanded. A federal judge’s vote and opinion cannot be counted after the judge’s death when the decision is issued, because doing so would allow a deceased judge to exercise judicial power. The Court explained that judges may change their positions until a decision is publicly released and that the relevant federal law requires a decision by the judges who constitute the panel at the time of issuance. The Court did not decide the merits of Rizo’s pay-discrimination claim; it returned the case for further proceedings without counting Reinhardt’s vote.