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

This post was updated on June 29 at 4:08 p.m. In a historic decision, the Supreme Court severely limited, if not effectively ended, the use of affirmative action in college admissions on Thursday. By a vote of 6-3, the justices ruled that the admissions programs used by the University of North Carolina and Harvard College… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued decisions in three of the 10 as-yet-undecided cases. The justices will return to the bench on Thursday morning to issue more opinions, but Thursday will not be the final day before the justices’ summer recess. Here is a list of the seven as-yet-undecided cases, along with (when possible) discussion… Read More

The justices narrowly rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania law that allows any company doing business in the state to be sued there – even if the corporation is not headquartered in Pennsylvania and the conduct at the center of the lawsuit occurred somewhere else. It was a major decision in personal… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the conviction of Billy Raymond Counterman, a Colorado man who was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for stalking based on his Facebook messages. By a vote of 7-2, the justices ruled that the state courts had applied the wrong test to determine whether Counterman’s statements were “true… Read More

In a major election-law decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that although the Constitution gives state legislatures the power to regulate federal elections, state courts can supervise the legislature’s exercise of that power. By a vote of 6-3, the court rejected the so-called “independent state legislature theory,” holding that the North Carolina Supreme Court… Read More

As the justices enter the final week of June (and, presumably, the final week before they begin their summer recess), they have 10 cases remaining — almost all of which are among the biggest cases of the term, presenting issues such as the role of race in college admissions, the legality of the Biden administration’s… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday added two new cases to its docket for the 2023-24 term, involving educational benefits for veterans and a rare appearance by the 16th Amendment. At the same time, the justices took two cases in which they had granted review off their docket. They dismissed one case, in which they had… Read More

This post was updated on June 23 at 2:18 p.m. In a major victory for the Biden administration, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Texas and Louisiana do not have a legal right, known as standing, to challenge a Biden administration policy that prioritizes certain groups of unauthorized immigrants for arrest and deportation. The… Read More

With the release of four opinions on Thursday, including one opinion from the court’s November argument session and two from its April argument session, the justices now have 14 cases left to decide before their summer recess. Thursday’s opinions also shed additional light, even if they don’t bring complete clarity, on the question of which… Read More

The Supreme Court released four opinions on Thursday morning, in cases involving water rights for Native Americans, the intersection of immigration and criminal law, federal racketeering laws, and federal habeas corpus laws. The justices did not, however, release opinions in some of their most closely watched cases, including a pair of cases involving the role… Read More