The current court is often described as composed of six Republican-appointed conservatives and three Democratic-appointed liberals. And that shorthand explains many of the court’s most visible decisions. But it also misses one of the central patterns in close cases. While a 6-3 decision can reflect a familiar ideological split, it […]

On this day in 1918, the court decided Hammer v. Dagenhart, invalidating a law meant “to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor.” The case was overturned 23 years later, when the court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act. At the Court Tuesday night, the Supreme Court cleared […]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday night cleared the way for Alabama to use a congressional map in the 2026 elections that lower courts found to be racially discriminatory. In a four-page, unsigned order, the court held that that “the District Court’s analysis departed from” the Supreme Court’s April 29 decision […]

The Supreme Court on Monday in Whitton v. Dixon sided with a death row inmate for the second time in less than a week, holding in an unsigned opinion that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit improperly included DNA evidence that was not presented to the jury […]

On May 7, 2026, Clarence Thomas became the second longest serving justice in American history, surpassing Justice Stephen Field, who had been a justice for 34 years, 195 days, from 1863-1897. If Thomas stays on the bench for two more years, in May 2028, he will replace Justice William O. […]

Reminder: Each Wednesday, SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe answers your questions about the court in a section called Ask Amy. Send your queries to scotusblog@thedispatch.com. At the Court On Monday, the court added a new case on the First Step Act to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term, sent a […]

The plaintiffs challenging an Alabama congressional map urged the justices on Monday afternoon to leave in place a ruling by a panel of federal judges that bars Alabama from using the map on the ground that it is racially discriminatory. One set of plaintiffs told the justices that the lower […]

A federal defendant may obtain compassionate release if a district court finds, among other things, that “extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction” to his or her sentence. In Fernandez v. United States, the Supreme Court rejected that a defendant’s arguments questioning the validity of his conviction could count […]

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added one new case to its argument docket for the 2026-27 term, granting another case involving the First Step Act, a 2018 criminal justice law intended to improve federal prison conditions and reduce long federal prison sentences. In an unsigned opinion, the justices also […]

It’s June 1. The official start of hurricane season in the Atlantic, Statehood Day for both Kentucky and Tennessee, and Oscar the Grouch Day. It’s also the beginning of what is likely to be the final month before the justices’ summer recess – or, to put it another way, a […]