The vacancy on the Supreme Court has led to countless hours of wasted energy and potentially thousands of dollars in legal fees, according to one legal scholar.

The late Justice Antonin Scalia’s spot has yet to be filled since his death on Feb. 13. With only eight justices on the bench, cases may not be heard or others will be sent back to the lower courts if there is a tie vote.

There has been at least one split decision in the past few months. Georgetown University Law Professor Susan Bloch told ABC News that such a situation is “a total waste of time.”

When decisions are reverted back to the circuit court decision, “all the time the justices have spent considering and debating the case is for naught. It’s very was very wasteful.”