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

A divided Supreme Court declined to block the execution of Jessie Hoffman, who was put to death on Tuesday night in Louisiana. Four justices would have put Hoffman’s execution on hold – one short of the five needed for a stay. Hoffman was sentenced to death for the 1996 kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder of… Read More

Chief Justice John Roberts criticized a call by President Donald Trump for the impeachment of a federal trial judge who temporarily barred the federal government from deporting noncitizens pursuant to an executive order published on Saturday. The rare public statement was the latest development in a fast-moving battle over Trump’s efforts to deport noncitizens alleged… Read More

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to enforce an executive order signed by President Donald Trump ending birthright citizenship – the guarantee of citizenship to virtually anyone born in the United States. In a trio of near-identical filings by Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the administration urged the justices… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” – that is, the effort to “convert” someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. That announcement came as part of a list of orders released on Monday morning from the justices’ private conference last week. Less than a… Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a request by the Trump administration to lift an order by a federal judge that had instructed it to temporarily reinstate Hampton Dellinger as the head of the Office of Special Counsel. In a one-sentence order on Thursday afternoon, the justices threw out the plea as moot – that… Read More

A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request by the Trump administration to lift an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that had directed the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to pay nearly $2 billion in foreign-aid reimbursements for work that has already been done. In a… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday signaled that it was likely to shut down a lawsuit brought by the Mexican government, seeking to hold seven major U.S. gun makers and a gun wholesaler responsible for violence committed by Mexican drug cartels with U.S.-made weapons. A majority of the court appeared to agree with the gun makers… Read More

Just two weeks after the Trump administration designated six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, Mexico will come to the Supreme Court on Tuesday in its effort to hold U.S. gun makers liable for cartel violence committed with U.S.-made weapons. Mexico is seeking billions of dollars from seven major U.S. gun makers and one gun… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday added one new case, involving the double jeopardy clause and the Hobbs Act, to its docket for the 2025-26 term. The justices opted not to intervene in a First Amendment challenge to a “bias response” teams on a university campus, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito indicating that they… Read More

The Trump administration on Wednesday reiterated its request for the Supreme Court to lift an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that instructed President Donald Trump to temporarily reinstate the head of an independent federal agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. Last week the justices declined to freeze the order by U.S…. Read More