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

Justice Samuel Alito did not report any reimbursements for travel-related expenses in 2023, according to a financial disclosure form made public on Friday. The form also revealed that Alito accepted concert tickets worth $900 from a German princess. Each justice is required to file a financial disclosure every year by May 15 with the Administrative… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request from Oklahoma to reinstate over $4 million in funding for family-planning projects while the state’s challenge to the termination of the grant by the federal Department of Health and Human Services continues in the lower courts. Federal law requires states to provide abortion counseling and referrals as… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily barred the Biden administration from implementing one of its latest efforts to provide debt relief to Americans with student loans. In a brief unsigned order, the justices declined to allow the Department of Education to put into effect a July 2023 rule, known as the SAVE Plan, intended to… Read More

Just under two months after a divided Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for their conduct in office, Special Counsel Jack Smith charged former President Donald Trump in a revised indictment alleging that Trump conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The court’s July 1 ruling, written by… Read More

A divided Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon granted a request from the Republican National Committee and the Republican leaders of Arizona’s legislature to reinstate a state law that requires residents to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote using a form provided by the state. The court turned down a request, however, to reinstate… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Biden administration’s request to be allowed to temporarily enforce most of an April 2024 rule implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding, while its appeals continued. Friday’s ruling leaves in place for now decisions by… Read More

On September 30, the justices will meet for the so-called “long conference” – the first regularly scheduled conference since early July at which they will consider new petitions for review. The court will have hundreds of petitions in front of it, but last year it agreed to add only 12 cases to its docket for… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a plea from Missouri to block New York from imposing a gag order and sentencing former President Donald Trump in his criminal proceedings there until after the 2024 elections. After a six-week trial, Trump was convicted in May in a New York state court on 34 counts of… Read More

President Joe Biden on Monday proposed three reforms to the Supreme Court. Stressing that he has “great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers,” but contending that “[w]hat is happening now is not normal,” Biden pointed to the court’s recent decision finding that former presidents have broad immunity for crimes that they commit… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon appointed a former clerk to Justice Samuel Alito (who also served as a clerk to then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit) to defend a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a pair of cases involving the… Read More