Please note that SCOTUS Outside Opinions constitute the views of outside contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SCOTUSblog or its staff. In Jan. 2023, a PDF attachment appeared in my inbox: draft legislation requiring the Supreme Court to establish a code of conduct and create the position of Supreme […]

It has been just under a month since President Donald Trump issued a new executive order seeking to narrow the availability of birthright citizenship, the current guarantee of citizenship to almost everyone born in the United States. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked the Trump administration from […]

Chief Justice William Rehnquist died on this day in 2005. He served on the court for more than 33 years, the first 14 of which he spent as an associate justice. At the Court Two Republican groups asked the court on its interim docket to block a decision by the […]

The Constitution’s due process clause famously limits the government’s power to detain people. Next month the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a case about the clause’s relevance to long-time migrants. If it sides with the government, the court could allow immigration officials to detain thousands of long-term […]

As the back-to-school spirit sweeps across the nation, education is likely on the minds of the Supreme Court justices (especially those with kids still at home or in college). The court is preparing for a term that will involve at least one major dispute on religion in schools – and […]

As summer comes to a close, I thought SCOTUSblog readers might appreciate a brief escape from the day’s dreary headlines to something a bit different: the little-known physical transformation of President and later Chief Justice William Howard Taft. People remember Taft as a heavy president, but few are aware that […]

We’re now only two weeks away from The SCOTUSblog Summit: 2026 Term Preview, which will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Washington, D.C. If you’re interested in attending, please fill out this registration request. At the Court Two Republican groups have asked the court on its interim docket to […]

This is the sixth piece in a series on what I believe the court can, and should, do better. *** On the Supreme Court, there are two primary numerical voting rules. Under the “Rule of Four,” it takes four votes to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari. Thus, […]

Welcome to September, the final month of the justices’ summer recess. This time next month, we’ll be busy previewing the first oral arguments of the 2026-27 term. At the Court On Monday, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, granted the Trump administration’s request to allow construction on the new […]

Three weeks after D. John Sauer was confirmed as the 49th solicitor general, law professor and podcast co-host William Baude speculated that Sauer might be “either fired or disbarred by the time his term is up.” Baude’s co-host, Dan Epps, was discussing the dilemma that, in their view, Sauer likely […]