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

The Supreme Court’s 2018-2019 term will end with a bang. In a brief order issued after the justices’ private conference, the court announced this afternoon that it will review a challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. The court will take up the case and hear… Read More

The Supreme Court has released its calendar for the April sitting, which begins on April 15. Unlike the February and March sittings, which will feature only six and nine hours of argument, respectively, the April sitting is scheduled to have a full slate of 12 oral arguments – two on each of the six days… Read More

Last week the Supreme Court was officially in its winter recess, but there was still plenty of action at One First Street, including in cases asking the justices to intervene in cases involving the death penalty and abortion. I cover these events and more in this week’s podcast.

A divided Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to execute a Muslim inmate after denying his request to have an imam at his side in the execution chamber, even though the prison would allow a Christian chaplain to be present in the chamber. By a vote of 5-4, the justices lifted a stay of… Read More

In June 2016, an eight-member Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that required doctors who perform abortions to have the authority to admit patients at a local hospital. The makeup of the court has changed significantly since then: In 2017, Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died… Read More

Every 10 years, the federal government conducts a census. The states then use the data from the census to draw new maps for their state legislatures and federal congressional districts. The maps often take politics into account – for example, to protect incumbents. But in March, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument on whether… Read More

SECOND UPDATE: On Friday, February 1, Justice Alito temporarily put the lower-court’s ruling on hold until Thursday, February 7, to give the justices more time to review the filings in the case. This means that the Louisiana law will not go into effect on Monday, February 4. Alito indicated that his order did not “reflect… Read More

This spring the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Kisor v. Wilkie, a case that arises from a dispute over benefits for a Marine who served in the Vietnam War. Although it may sound dry, the case could be one of the most consequential ones of the term, because the justices will decide whether… Read More

Last week the Supreme Court announced that it would no longer hear oral argument on February 19 in a dispute over evidence in a challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to bring a question about citizenship back to the 2020 census. That announcement came after a federal district court in New York barred the government… Read More

The Supreme Court issued the argument calendar for its March sitting today. Over a six-day period from March 18 through March 27, the justices will hear oral argument in nine cases. Three of those cases are likely to be among the biggest cases of the term. On March 26, in Rucho v. Common Cause and… Read More