Covering the Supreme Court and the Judiciary in (mostly) Plain English

The Supreme Court took a big step on Friday night toward filling up its merits docket for the rest of the 2020-21 term, granting review in 14 new cases for a total of 12 hours of argument. The justices will weigh in on the First Amendment rights of students and charitable organizations, as well as… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Tuesday in a case questioning whether a lawsuit seeking only symbolic damages can go forward after the government changes the unconstitutional policy being challenged, or whether the case is instead moot – that is, no longer a live controversy. The issue comes to the justices in Uzuegbunam… Read More

Correction appended. The Constitution gives the president the power “to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of impeachment.” In the days before Christmas, President Donald Trump used this power to pardon or commute the sentences of over 40 people, including Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager; Charles Kushner,… Read More

Chief Justice John Roberts issued his annual year-end report on Thursday, and the theme – perhaps unsurprisingly – was the coronavirus pandemic. Roberts paid tribute to everyone in the federal court system and the federal government who allowed the courts to carry out their work safely, but he singled out what he called the “‘first… Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday released the calendar for its February argument session, which begins on Feb. 22, 2021. Like the argument calendar for January 2021, the session is relatively light: It is slated to feature eight hours of argument over six days, but with the very real prospect that two cases will be removed… Read More

Twelve days after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with a plan to change how census numbers are used to determine congressional representation, the Census Bureau confirmed that it would not meet a key year-end deadline to provide state-by-state population counts to the president. Instead, the bureau indicated on Wednesday, it aims… Read More

The Supreme Court announced on Monday that Rebecca Anne Womeldorf has been named the new reporter of decisions. She succeeds Christine Luchok Fallon, who retired in September. Womeldorf will begin her new job on Jan. 13, 2021. The reporter of decisions plays an important behind-the-scenes role in the Supreme Court’s release of opinions. She prepares… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that it was too early to resolve the legality of the Trump administration’s plan to exclude people who are in the country illegally from the state-by-state breakdown used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives. The decision puts at least a temporary end to the litigation challenging the… Read More

  The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a request from a Christian school in Kentucky and the state’s attorney general to allow in-person classes at faith-based schools, stressing that most schools in Kentucky will close for the winter holidays on Friday, Dec. 18, and are slated to reopen on Jan. 4. The justices left… Read More

The justices on Wednesday added three new cases, for a total of two hours of argument time, to their list of cases slated for oral argument this term. The announcement that the justices would tackle significant issues relating to antitrust protection for the National Collegiate Athletic Association and class-action lawsuits came just two days after… Read More