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"You know who's on the panel, right? Do you think it's going to have much of a chance of surviving? I wouldn't bet on it." -- Judge Harry Pregerson.

UPDATE: This another instance of the 79 year old Judge behaving like a 2 year old -- or a teenager -- defying the rules, as How Appealing explains:

It is extraordinarily unusual for a judge to speak to the press about the merits of a matter currently pending before his court. Indeed, whichever party loses before the eleven-judge en banc panel could ask for rehearing en banc before all twenty-three non-recused judges on the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Pregerson is in that group. On the other hand, this is not the first time that Judge Pregerson has behaved in a manner quite different from the way that every other federal appellate judge would behave, as my Los Angeles Times op-ed published on June 1, 2003 explains.

Update: Don't simply take my word for it -- this document posted on the Ninth Circuit's own Web site states that "Due to codes of ethics restrictions, judges are unable to discuss the merits of the case."

It's time for this old goat to put himself out to pasture -- and he can spend his last cantankerous years defying the rules of The Home.

UPDATE II: Eugene Volokh weighs in.