The Supreme Court as agent of the people

In my first two entries for this column, I focused on the president’s removal power and Congress’ power to make law. This third entry focuses on our third branch of government and explains why the Supreme and inferior federal courts are properly conceptualized as faithful agents of We the People […]

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Trump-related cases coming to the court

Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court six years ago today. At the Court On Oct. 21, the Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court’s interim docket, asking the justices to allow it to resume construction of its border wall in the Big Bend region of southwestern […]

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When the Supreme Court blessed zoning

James Metzenbaum was stuck on a train from Washington – slowed by a snowstorm – convincing himself that his opponent had successfully persuaded the Supreme Court against his position within the last few minutes of oral argument. He had just argued in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty in defense […]

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Chief Justice John Roberts’ long game on executive power

Please note that SCOTUS Outside Opinions constitute the views of outside contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SCOTUSblog or its staff. *** One of Chief Justice John Roberts’ most enduring commitments has been to expanding presidential power. In that regard, Roberts has long opposed Congress’ limits on the president’s […]

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The interim docket remains active

The interim docket dominated court news this week. Among other developments, the court declined to allow the Trump administration to implement its new transgender inmate policy and then received a new application from the administration addressing a block on border wall construction in the Big Bend region of Texas. On […]

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Trump administration and Texas urge court to leave their agreement on deportation proceedings in place

The Trump administration and Texas urged the Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon to leave in place their consent agreement abolishing a Biden-era regulation that had allowed immigration judges to suspend some deportation proceedings. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that the request from the challengers in the […]

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The Mahmoud Khalil and Badar Khan Suri cases: an explainer

During the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, the federal government detained and sought to deport several students and academics because of their support for Palestine. The Supreme Court could soon take up the cases of two of those detainees, Mahmoud Khalil and Badar Khan Suri, both of […]

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When denying a stay denies the rule of international law

Just as the 2026-27 term was getting underway, the Supreme Court once more sided with the Trump administration with a stay order in what has been variously called the emergency, shadow, interim, or equity docket. The case, Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D., involved the government’s plan to deport undocumented […]

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