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

Telling the Supreme Court that the crimes with which former President Donald Trump has been charged “strike at the heart of our democracy” and that there is a “national interest in seeing” those charges “resolved promptly,” Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the justices on Wednesday evening to clear the way for Trump to be tried… Read More

Four days after the justices heard oral arguments in his quest to be restored to the ballot in Colorado, former President Donald Trump was back at the Supreme Court, asking the justices to temporarily block a decision by a federal appeals court holding that he can be tried on criminal charges that he conspired to… Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday appeared ready to hold that Colorado cannot exclude former President Donald Trump from the ballot based on his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. During an oral argument that lasted for more than two hours, justices of all ideological stripes questioned the wisdom of allowing… Read More

On Friday afternoon, the justices declined to temporarily block the U.S. Military Academy from considering race in its admissions process. In an unsigned order, the justices turned down a request from the same group that spearheaded challenges to the use of affirmative action in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, and which… Read More

This article was updated on Feb. 5 at 1:43 pm.  The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Thursday in what is shaping up to be the biggest election case since its ruling nearly 25 years ago in Bush v. Gore. At issue is whether former President Donald Trump, who is once again the front… Read More

The U.S. Military Academy on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to stay out of a dispute over the use of race in the school’s admissions policy. Telling the justices that a group of students opposed to the consideration of race in college admissions was seeking to block “policies that military leaders have long deemed essential… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Mar. 26 in the battle over access to a drug used in medication abortions, which account for over half of all abortions performed in the United States. The justices on Monday morning released the calendar for their March argument sitting, which begins on Mar. 18 and ends… Read More

The same group that spearheaded lawsuits to effectively end the use of affirmative action in college admissions returned to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to temporarily bar the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which trains officers for the U.S. Army, from considering race in its admissions process. Students for Fair Admissions,… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday morning appointed a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts to defend a ruling by an Oklahoma court leaving in place the conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip – even after the state’s attorney general agreed that they should be set aside. The justices agreed to hear Glossip’s case… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a battle over race and redistricting in Michigan. In a brief unsigned order, the justices denied a request by the state’s independent redistricting commission to put on hold a lower court’s ruling that requires it to redraw state legislative maps for the Detroit area because the… Read More