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

The Supreme Court on Wednesday was divided over the validity of a 2018 federal regulation banning the “bump stock” rifle attachment. The Trump administration regulation barred ownership of bump stocks, which transforms a semiautomatic rifle into a weapon that can discharge at a rate of hundreds of rounds per minute, under an existing general prohibition… Read More

The Supreme Court has already heard oral argument in one major gun-rights case this term, and on Wednesday the court will hear another. In November, the justices heard United States v. Rahimi, a challenge to the constitutionality of a federal law that makes it a crime for someone who is the subject of a domestic-violence… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday appeared skeptical of a pair of laws in Texas and Florida that would regulate how large social media companies control content posted on their sites. During nearly four hours of arguments, several justices suggested that the laws violate the First Amendment because they infringe on the ability of companies like… Read More

Once again, the relationship between the government and social media will headline arguments at the Supreme Court on Monday. NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice are just the second of three social media disputes the court will hear this term. The justices on Monday will consider the constitutionality of controversial laws in Texas and… Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request to temporarily put on hold a bankruptcy plan for the Boy Scouts of America while a challenge to that plan continues in a federal appeals court. A group of childhood sexual abuse survivors had asked the justices earlier this month to block the plan, but in a… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared sympathetic to a group of states, companies, and trade associations seeking to temporarily block a rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce air pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities in 23 states that do not want to adjust their emissions policies. During approximately 90 minutes… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning issued orders from the justices’ private conference on Friday, Feb. 16. The court did not add any new cases to its merits docket, but Tuesday’s list of orders featured several notable denials of review – including in a pair of cases that the justices have been considering since late… Read More

The 2023-24 term at the Supreme Court will close out regularly scheduled oral arguments with three high-profile disputes over the interpretation of the federal criminal law that is at the center of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump, the constitutionality of an Oregon city’s law regulating camping on public property, and… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in a group of challenges to ozone regulation that came to the justices on their so-called “shadow docket” – that is, as emergency appeals. Three states, along with several companies and trade associations, have asked the court to temporarily block a rule issued by the Environmental… Read More

Less than a year after its decision striking down the admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina as unconstitutional on the ground that they explicitly considered an applicant’s race as part of their admissions process, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to wade into the battle over race in admissions again. The… Read More