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

The Supreme Court formally removed the second of two challenges to President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order from its docket today. The March 6 order, sometimes known as the “travel ban,” had blocked travel to the United States by nationals of six Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of refugees into the United States…. Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from its October 13 conference. The justices added four new cases to their merits docket for the term, and several justices commented on some of the cases in which the court denied review. The highest-profile grant of the day came in United States v. Microsoft Corp., in which… Read More

The Supreme Court was divided today on whether corporations can be held liable in U.S. courts under a federal law dating back over two centuries. After an hour of oral argument by three excellent advocates, and five years after they considered the question for the first time, several of the justices appeared to be ready… Read More

One of the challenges to President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order, often known as the “travel ban,” came to an end at the Supreme Court today, at least for now. In a brief order issued this evening, the justices sent Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for… Read More

The justices this morning issued orders from their October 6 conference. They did not act on the two challenges to President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order, often known as the “travel ban,” nor did they grant review in any new cases. However, they did call for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in… Read More

The Supreme Court released its calendar today for the December sitting, which begins on November 27. During the six days of the sitting, the justices will hear 10 oral arguments: Four of the days will feature two oral arguments each, while two days have only one oral argument scheduled each day. Highlights of the sitting include… Read More

The Supreme Court released its calendar today for the December sitting, which begins on November 27. During the six days of the sitting, the justices will hear 10 oral arguments: Four of the days will feature two oral arguments each, while two days have only one oral argument scheduled each day. Highlights of the sitting… Read More

Both sides of the dispute over President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order weighed in on the future of the challenges today. In filings with the Supreme Court, the federal government urged the justices to dismiss the case as moot – that is, no longer a live dispute – while the challengers told the court… Read More

In a brief order entered this afternoon, the Supreme Court allowed the execution of an Alabama inmate to go forward. The state had asked the court to intervene after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit put the execution on hold; the ruling means that the execution of Jeffrey Borden can proceed as… Read More

When the justices took the bench this morning to hear oral argument in District of Columbia v. Wesby, there were two young children, dressed in their Sunday best, seated in the front row of the public section. The issues before the court in Wesby seemed like fairly dry ones: whether D.C. police officers had probable… Read More