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

For the second week in a row, the Supreme Court did not add any new cases to its docket for the 2024-25 term. In a list of orders released on Monday morning, the justices turned down several dozen petitions for review that they had considered at their private conference on Friday, including petitions asking them… Read More

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he intends to nominate D. John Sauer, who successfully argued in the Supreme Court earlier this year that Trump is entitled to broad immunity from prosecution, to serve as the solicitor general of the United States. Trump made the announcement in a statement on Thursday evening, calling Sauer… Read More

The Supreme Court turned down a plea from Mark Meadows, who served as chief of staff to Donald Trump during his first term in office, to transfer his Georgia election interference prosecution to federal court. The announcement came as part of a list of orders released on Tuesday morning from the justices’ private conference last… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear arguments early next year in the latest chapter in a protracted dispute over race and redistricting in Louisiana. In a list of orders from the justices’ private conference on Friday, the court announced on Monday morning that it will review a pair of appeals from a decision by a three-judge… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday night left in place a ruling by Pennsylvania’s highest court that requires election boards in the state to count provisional ballots submitted by voters whose mail-in ballots had been deemed invalid. The brief unsigned order came just four days before election day. Recent polls show former President Donald Trump and… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear an important First Amendment case on Jan. 15, 2025. During their January argument session, which begins on Jan. 13 and continues until Jan. 22, the justices will also consider questions involving the Americans with Disabilities Act, federal laws prohibiting false statements to influence financial institutions, and claims under the Fourth… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked an order by a federal judge that would have required Virginia to return more than 1600 people to the voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles found that since early August the state had canceled the registration of more than 1,600 voters – at least some of… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to order the removal of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s name from ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed former President Donald Trump. But election officials in Wisconsin and Michigan rebuffed Kennedy’s request to withdraw his name from the ballot. That led to litigation… Read More

The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania came to the Supreme Court on Monday, asking the justices to block a ruling by Pennsylvania’s highest court requiring election boards to count provisional ballots submitted by voters whose mail-in ballots had been deemed invalid. The RNC and the Pennsylvania Republicans argue that the state… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a federal law intended to standardize anti-doping and safety regulations in horse racing to remain in place while a challenge to that law plays out. The conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, based in New Orleans, ruled in July that key parts of the law are… Read More