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

UPDATE: On Sept. 22, Justice Samuel Alito temporarily extended the stay of the lower court’s order until the end of the day on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The Biden administration on Thursday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a lower court’s order that would limit its ability to communicate with social media companies over… Read More

It was déjà vu all over again at the Supreme Court on Monday, as Alabama asked the justices to intervene in a dispute over the state’s congressional map. The last time it made such a request, in January 2022, Alabama won the battle but lost the war: A divided Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower… Read More

The Biden administration and a drug manufacturer on Friday night asked the Supreme Court to review a decision by a federal appeals court that would significantly restrict access to a drug used in medication abortions, which account for over half of all abortions performed in the United States. The filings created the prospect that the… Read More

Justice Samuel Alito on Friday rebuffed a call from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee for him to recuse himself from a tax dispute because of his links to an attorney in the case. Alito contended that when – as in this case – “there is no sound reason for a Justice to recuse, the… Read More

A major Second Amendment dispute and a challenge to the constitutionality of efforts by public officials to block constituents on social media headline the Supreme Court’s November argument calendar, which was released on Wednesday. The session, which begins on Oct. 30, is a relatively light one, with the justices scheduled to hear oral arguments in… Read More

Justice Clarence Thomas took three trips in 2022 hosted in part or in full by Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow, according to a financial disclosure form made public on Thursday morning. The form also revealed that on at least two of those trips, Thomas traveled by private jet – according to Thomas, at the recommendation of… Read More

The Biden administration on Monday urged the Supreme Court to take up a pair of challenges to the constitutionality of controversial social-media laws in Florida and Texas. In a brief filed at the justices’ request, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the court that the laws, which were enacted in response to beliefs that social-media… Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday put a bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin, on hold while it reviews a challenge to the legality of the plan, which would shield the Sackler family, which currently owns the drug company, from lawsuits. In the brief order the justices agreed… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Biden administration to temporarily reinstate a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulating “ghost guns” while a challenge to the rule continues in a federal appeals court. In June, a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, had barred the ATF from enforcing the rule… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that bars the city of Tulsa from enforcing municipal ordinances against Native Americans. In a brief unsigned order without any public dissents, the justices rejected the city’s request to put a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit… Read More