August 2025 Archive

The Supreme Court and flag burning: an explainer

President Donald Trump wants to prosecute flag burning, but can he make that happen without violating Supreme Court precedent?

The morning read for Friday, August 29

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

Transgender student’s bathroom case comes to the Supreme Court on the emergency docket

Updated on Aug. 29 at 11:05 a.m. South Carolina asked the Supreme Court to pause an order by a federal appeals court that requires a public school in the state to allow a transgender boy to use the boys’ bathroom while he challenges a state law that requires students to use bathrooms based on their biological sex at birth.

New Jersey’s long history of trouncing New York at the Supreme Court

I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I live there now (not off of any exit, thank you very much). And, although I resided in the Big Apple for many years, I will always be a Jersey boy.

Louisiana urges Supreme Court to uphold order barring race-based redistricting map

Writing that it “wants out of this abhorrent system of racial discrimination,” Louisiana on Wednesday told the Supreme Court in the case of Louisiana v. Callais to leave in place a ruling by a three-judge federal court that threw out the state’s 2024 congressional map, which created a second majority-Black district.

The morning read for Thursday, August 28

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

When Flag Burning Becomes a Crime | Interview: Sanford and Cynthia Levinson

The future of voting rights

The morning read for Wednesday, August 27

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

Trump administration withdraws request to the Supreme Court for it to hear dispute over foreign-aid payment

Updated on Aug. 29 at 6:13 p.m. The Trump administration informed a federal appeals court on Tuesday evening that it has returned to the Supreme Court, seeking to pause an order by a federal district court in Washington, D.C., that requires the federal government to pay billions of dollars in foreign aid that Congress has already allocated.

Justice Alito files 2024 financial disclosure

Justice Samuel Alito reported reimbursement for just one trip – to speak at a Catholic university’s graduation ceremony in Ohio – in 2024. The news came as part of Alito’s annual financial disclosure, which was filed on Aug. 13 and released on Tuesday morning.

Why the Supreme Court agrees to hear some cases and not others

The morning read for Tuesday, August 26

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:

Political Retribution? | Interview: Saikrishna Prakash

The Supreme Court and Trump’s tariffs: an explainer

Update on August 29 at 6:30 p.m.: On August 29, the Federal Circuit ruled that the majority of the Trump administration’s tariffs are illegal. Specifically, it concluded that “IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to ‘regulate’ imports does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders.” The Federal Circuit stayed its ruling until October 14 so as to allow the government to seek Supreme Court review.

The morning read for Monday, August 25

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Monday morning read:

The Supreme Court is historically unpopular right now. Or is it?

Is the Supreme Court’s approval rating at a five-year high or record low? It depends on which survey you’re reading. In just the past two months, at least seven national polls on the court’s work have been fielded and released, leading to a confusing – and at times contradictory – mix of headlines about how the public views the justices.

The morning read for Friday, August 22

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to terminate $783 million in NIH grants linked to DEI initiatives

By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to allow the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funding source for biomedical research in the world, to terminate $783 million in grants linked to DEI initiatives.

The justices have the easiest job in the judiciary

Justice Gorsuch and what is owed to American Indians

Much ink has been spilled on Justice Neil Gorsuch’s ardent defense of the rights of American Indians. As legal scholar Ilya Somin noted in 2023, until then “Justice Gorsuch ha[d] never voted against Native American interests in a Supreme Court case.” Many commentators – those of a liberal bent in particular – have reacted with puzzlement to this aspect of Gorsuch’s jurisprudence.

The morning read for Thursday, August 21

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

Are Age Verification Laws Constitutional?

The Ten Commandments and a “secular purpose”

What the emergency docket actually looks like

By now, you’ve probably heard a great deal about the Supreme Court’s interim relief docket, also known as the emergency or “shadow” docket – which, although it technically refers to all cases that are not briefed and argued on the merits, is commonly used to describe the cases in which a party comes to the court for an order on an emergency basis without full briefing and oral argument.

The morning read for Wednesday, August 20

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

The Trump administration puts ethnicity on the court’s emergency docket

The Supreme Court and the world of sports

The Supreme Court’s 2025-26 term is shaping up to be a significant one for the sports world. The justices have already agreed to hear two sports-related cases, and they will soon have a chance to take up another.

The morning read for Tuesday, August 19

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:

Federalizing D.C. | Live From the Alaska Federal Bar Association

The dissent that became a constitutional amendment

The morning read for Monday, August 18

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court.

You say “a-mee-cus,” Justice Breyer says “a-mike-us”

As readers of this site are well aware, the Supreme Court is deeply divided on a wide range of consequential issues. How should the justices consider history when they are interpreting the Constitution?

The morning read for Friday, August 15

We’re pleased to announce the SCOTUSblog Summit: On the Merits, co-hosted by SCOTUSblog and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, a convening that carries forward the university’s commitment to fostering far-reaching dialogue around pressing policy issues.

Supreme Court allows restrictions on children’s access to social media to remain in place

The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a request from a tech industry group to temporarily bar Mississippi from enforcing a state law that restricts access by young people to social media.

The levels of scrutiny are here to stay (for now at least)

The morning read for Thursday, August 14

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

Hookers and Kushners | Interview: Chris Christie

Will the Supreme Court revisit its ruling on same-sex marriage?

Updated on Oct. 22 at 6:28 p.m. In 2015, shortly after the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, a local county clerk from Kentucky made national headlines when she refused on religious grounds to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, David Moore and David Ermold.

The hidden prevalence of criminal law at the Supreme Court

The morning read for Wednesday, August 13

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

Groups ask Supreme Court to keep in place district court ruling barring immigration stops

Lawyers for immigrants’ rights groups, U.S. citizens, and undocumented immigrants challenging the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts in the Los Angeles area urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to leave in place a ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong that

Supreme Court announces when it will hear oral argument in several important cases

The Supreme Court on Tuesday released the calendars for the October and November argument sessions. The October session will feature 10 arguments over five days, while the November session will feature nine over five days. Both sessions include important cases.

The perils of using class actions as a replacement for universal injunctions

The morning read for Tuesday, August 12

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:

Abraham Lincoln, Originalist | Interview: Akhil Amar

Shadow voting on the shadow docket

What is the Supreme Court’s long conference?

Edward Lazarus, a former clerk to the late Justice Harry Blackmun, called it a “single marathon session.” Gregory Garre, who served as the U.S. solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration, described it as the place “where petitions go to die.” Lazarus and Garre were both referring to

The morning read for Monday, August 11

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Monday morning read:

Justice, democracy, and law