Major Questions is a recurring series by Adam White, which analyzes the court’s approach to administrative law, agencies, and the lower courts. Good fences make good neighbors. But do bad neighbors make good analogies? Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson thinks so, but I’m less convinced. Speaking at Yale Law School last […]

Courtly Observations is a recurring series by Erwin Chemerinsky that focuses on what the Supreme Court’s decisions will mean for the law, for lawyers and lower courts, and for people’s lives. Much rightly has been written criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which effectively nullified Section 2 of the Voting […]

Chief Justice Edward Douglass White died 105 years ago today. As Nora noted in her Closer Look about him, White was the first associate justice ever to be elevated to chief justice (well, not counting Chief Justice John Rutledge’s brief, sad stint as an associate justice). And if you haven’t done so already, […]

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added one new case to its docket for the 2026-27 term. The justices will hear arguments sometime in the fall on whether employees can bring lawsuits for sex discrimination under a federal law that applies to schools that receive federal funding. Over a brief […]

In Dissent is a recurring series by Anastasia Boden on Supreme Court dissents that have shaped (or reshaped) our country. On October 9, 1954, Justice Robert Jackson died at the apartment of his secretary – forcing the Supreme Court to issue a statement papering over the circumstances. The official release […]

On this day in 1896, the court issued Plessy v. Ferguson, in which it upheld a Louisiana law requiring “equal but separate” accommodations for white and black passengers on passenger trains. The decision was overturned in Brown v. Board of Education, which was handed down 58 years later, almost to […]

Yesterday’s opinion in Jules v. Andre Balazs Properties firmly validated the authority of federal courts to enforce arbitration awards made in cases already pending in federal court. The case is important for the practice of arbitration because it follows directly from a 2022 decision called Badgerow v Walters, in which […]

The Supreme Court on Friday evening turned down a request by Virginia’s attorney general and other Virginia Democrats to allow the state to use a new congressional map, which would have been expected to strongly favor Democrats, in the 2026 elections. The denial came in a brief, unsigned order sent […]

Justice Clarence Thomas on Thursday afternoon spoke on the issue of shared national values. In an appearance at a conference outside Miami for judges and lawyers from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which includes Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, Thomas described growing up in Georgia during segregation […]

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that federal law does not shield freight brokers from state lawsuits claiming they negligently hired dangerous motor carriers. The case began on Dec. 7, 2017, when Shawn Montgomery suffered severe injuries from an accident on Illinois Interstate 70, […]