SCOTUS
83 briefs
The Supreme Court Reversed Itself to Erase a District It Had Previously Ordered to Exist
The 6-3 Alabama ruling does not just weaken the Voting Rights Act -- it retroactively rewrites what courts can require states to undo.
Trump's Tariff Playbook Has One Move Left and It Also Got Struck Down
The Section 122 tariffs are the third legal theory Trump has tried to impose global duties -- and courts keep stopping each one while letting him keep collecting until further notice.
The Abortion Pill Gets Three More Days. Every Three Days.
The Fifth Circuit banned mifepristone by mail. Alito overrode it. Then extended it three more days. The court is running the clock while millions of women wait.
Trump Names His Own Justices in Public, Warns the Birthright Ruling Will Follow
Gorsuch and Barrett voted wrong on tariffs. Now they face the birthright case. Trump is not asking for loyalty. He is documenting a grievance.
The Mifepristone Stay Expires Today. SCOTUS Has Not Acted.
Justice Alito's one-week pause on the Fifth Circuit's mail-order abortion ban runs out May 11. If the court stays silent, two-thirds of American abortions stop being accessible by mail overnight.
The Supreme Court Killed Section 2. Now Every State Is Redrawing Maps.
The 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais used manipulated DoJ data to gut the last protection in the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana already suspended live elections.
The Courts Have Now Killed Two Different Tariff Regimes. Trump Keeps Building New Ones.
The first $166B in IEEPA refunds arrive today. Last week a trade court struck down the 10% replacement tariff. The administration's legal theory for unilateral trade authority is running out of runways.
Trump Tells His Own Justices to Be 'Loyal.' The Court Hears It.
After SCOTUS killed his tariffs and is expected to kill his birthright citizenship order, Trump called out Gorsuch and Barrett by name. The court's independence question just got harder.
The Permanent Gerrymander
After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republicans are redrawing maps without legal constraint. Democrats are about to learn what structural disadvantage really feels like.
The Administration Has Defied Courts 31 Times. Nobody Has Stopped It.
A new review finds the Trump administration has violated federal court orders at least 31 times. The question is no longer whether the rule of law is being broken. It is whether anyone with the power to enforce it will.
The Trump-Xi Summit Is About Iran. China Wants It That Way.
The US-China summit next week was supposed to be about tariffs and rare earths. Iran has displaced both topics. That displacement is not accidental — it is the best outcome China could have engineered.
The Supreme Court Has Until Monday to Save Telehealth Abortion Access. It Probably Will. That's Not the Point.
SCOTUS paused the 5th Circuit's ban on mifepristone by mail until May 11. The real question is what happens after the pause.
SCOTUS Lets Apple's Contempt Finding Stand. Now a Judge Gets to Set the Rules.
After five years of litigation, Epic Games wins a procedural victory that sends Apple back to district court to face the one question Apple has been fighting to avoid: how much can it charge?
SCOTUS Just Handed Republicans a Redistricting Weapon Before the Midterms
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais dismantled majority-Black congressional districts. States are now scrambling to redraw maps before this year's elections.
Trump's Policy of Jailing Immigrants Without Bond Hearings Is Heading to the Supreme Court
Federal appeals circuits are splitting over whether a 30-year-old immigration law authorizes mass detention without hearings. The Supreme Court will likely have to decide whether millions of people can be held indefinitely on the government's schedule alone.
Roberts Says the Supreme Court Is Not Political. He Said It the Day After a Partisan Redistricting Ruling.
The Chief Justice went to a judicial conference in Pennsylvania to defend the Court against 'political actor' charges, one day after a 6-3 party-line vote stripped majority-Black districts in Louisiana.
SCOTUS Will Strike Down Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order. The Real Question Is What It Lets Happen First.
Polymarket gives 87% odds the Court kills the executive order. But SCOTUS already ruled states can enforce it partially. A ruling that arrives in June matters less than what happens between now and June.
SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act. Then It Rushed the Ruling Into Effect.
The Court didn't just strike down Louisiana's map. It expedited the ruling so Louisiana can draw a new one in time for 2026 midterms, while Jackson and Alito traded public insults about what that means.
The 5th Circuit Ended Telehealth Abortion. SCOTUS Has One Week to Decide if It Agrees.
Louisiana got a unanimous appeals court to revive an in-person requirement the FDA dropped years ago. The Supreme Court's one-week stay runs out May 11.
SCOTUS Ended the Nationwide Injunction. Kavanaugh Told You Why.
The Court didn't strip power from the judiciary. It moved that power upstairs, to itself.
Alito Saves the Abortion Pill. For One Week.
The 5th Circuit banned mifepristone by mail. SCOTUS gave it a seven-day reprieve. The same justice who ended Roe is now the procedural firewall between millions of women and a nationwide restriction.
SCOTUS Guts the VRA and Makes It Take Effect Immediately
A 6-3 ruling last week killed majority-minority districts. An emergency order Monday forced that ruling into effect before the 32-day waiting period. The 2026 map is already being redrawn.
The Tariffs Are Gone. The $166 Billion Refund Has Arrived. The Trade War Has Not Ended.
SCOTUS killed IEEPA tariffs in February. Trump is replacing them with Section 301 hearings starting this week. The destination is the same. Only the route changed.
SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act. Republicans Have 180 Days to Redraw Maps.
Louisiana v. Callais ended the 40-year Gingles framework for minority representation. The race to redraw before November's midterms may flip four to six House seats.
SCOTUS Guts the Voting Rights Act. Again.
A 6-3 ruling in the Louisiana redistricting case didn't kill Section 2 — it made compliance with Section 2 an unconstitutional act.
The $166 Billion Tariff Refund Nobody Asked For
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's tariffs. The refund goes to importers. The consumers who paid higher prices get nothing.
The 5th Circuit Rewrites Who Gets an Abortion
A federal appeals court just restored an in-person requirement for mifepristone, cutting off mail-order access for women in rural and restricted-access states.
Who Gets to Stay Is Now a Question of Presidential Mood
The Supreme Court is deciding whether the executive branch can revoke Temporary Protected Status for 700,000 people whenever it wants, with no judicial review.
The SCOTUS Ruling Unlocked Maximum Gerrymandering. Republicans Are Running the Clock.
Within 48 hours of the Callais decision, Louisiana suspended its primaries, Florida passed a new map adding four Republican seats, and Trump called on Tennessee and other states to redraw their districts. The ruling did not just limit the Voting Rights Act. It started a race.
SCOTUS Signals It Will Let Trump Deport a Million People Without Court Review
The conservative majority appears ready to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over TPS cancellations, turning humanitarian protection into a purely executive decision with no check.
SCOTUS Guts the Voting Rights Act, and the Ruling's Logic Goes Further Than Louisiana
The court's 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais makes it nearly impossible to draw a majority-minority district without simultaneously making it unconstitutional. That paradox was the point.
The Government Has to Return $166 Billion in Illegal Tariffs. Its Portal Is Rejecting 15% of Claims.
After the Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA tariffs, the administration built a refund system and then quietly set it to deny one in seven valid claims. The first checks go out May 11.
Supreme Court Signals It Will End Deportation Protections for 1.3 Million Migrants
A conservative majority appeared ready Wednesday to let Trump strip TPS from Haitians and Syrians -- and potentially from all 17 countries whose nationals hold the status.
SCOTUS Strikes Down Louisiana Map, Gutting Voting Rights Act
The court rules majority-minority districts unconstitutional, handing Republicans a redistricting weapon heading into the midterms.
The Supreme Court Is Being Asked to Let Trump Deport 700,000 People
The case is officially about legal procedure. It is actually about whether a president can revoke immigration status that Congress created, based on stated reasons the lower courts found unpersuasive.
The Allegiance Test
Trump attended Supreme Court oral arguments on birthright citizenship, becoming the first sitting president to do so. The justices, including his own appointees, told him he was wrong.
The Tariff Laundering Operation
The Supreme Court killed Trump's tariffs in February. He is now rebuilding the same wall using legal authority the courts have traditionally not touched.
Birthright Citizenship: SCOTUS Will Almost Certainly Rule Against Trump, But the Ruling Will Do More Than That
64% of Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship and the Court signaled strong skepticism in April oral argument. But a ruling that voids Trump's executive order will also settle what powers lower courts have to issue nationwide injunctions. That second question reshapes everything else Trump is trying to do.
Courts Dismantle Trump's Immigration Architecture, One Proclamation at a Time
The DC Circuit just killed Trump's 'invasion' hook for blocking asylum. This week SCOTUS hears TPS cases covering 350,000 Haitians. The legal architecture of mass deportation is being stress-tested at every level simultaneously.
The $166 Billion Refund Nobody Can Actually Collect: The IEEPA Ruling's Unfinished Business
The Supreme Court killed Trump's Liberation Day tariffs in February. The refund process launched April 20. But 56,000 importers are chasing $127 billion through a new government portal, while Congress hagles over whether small businesses will ever see a dime.
Dhillon's DOJ Is Completing the Rollback Reagan Couldn't: What Changed and Why It Matters
In the 1980s, GOP moderates in the Senate and Cabinet stopped Reagan's civil rights retrenchment. Today, Harmeet Dhillon is executing the same agenda without a single Republican senator objecting. The silence is the story.
The Supreme Court Looks Poised to Rule Against Trump. His Own Party Is Already Moving Past It.
With 64% of Americans opposing birthright citizenship repeal and the conservative-majority court appearing skeptical, Senate Republicans are advancing legislation that would accomplish the same result differently.
Trump Is Suing an Agency He Controls. A Judge Wants to Know How That Works.
A federal judge has paused Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, noting that a president cannot be 'sufficiently adverse' to his own executive branch to satisfy the Constitution's requirements for a real legal dispute.
Appeals Court Kills Trump's Asylum Ban. The Supreme Court Is Next.
A 2-1 ruling says the president cannot rewrite immigration law by proclamation. Trump's path to SCOTUS is now the point.
Trump Owes $159 Billion in Tariff Refunds. He Is Telling Companies Not to Collect.
The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs, CBP opened a refund portal, and Trump responded by publicly threatening companies that use it. The rule of law is now a political risk calculation.
No One in Washington Wants to Own the Haiti Decision
The Supreme Court hears arguments April 29 on whether the Trump administration can deport Haitians back to a country in active gang war. Congress just voted to stop it. Both institutions are trying to hand the problem to the other.
The Court Said Trump's Asylum Ban Is Illegal. The White House Will Try Again.
A federal appeals court struck down the administration's summary deportation rules today. This is the third time a court has blocked a Trump immigration order at this stage. The administration keeps filing.
SCOTUS vs. the 14th Amendment
Oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara revealed a court unlikely to rewrite a 128-year-old precedent, but the hearing exposed what the administration is actually asking for.
The Court That Stopped Explaining Itself
Leaked memos show Roberts built the shadow docket in private to kill policies he couldn't stop openly. The court's legitimacy crisis is now documented from the inside.
The Tariff Refund Is a Bill, Not a Check
Businesses that passed tariff costs to consumers are now eligible for government refunds. Taxpayers pay twice and the money flows to companies that already made their customers whole.
Voters Approve the Map. A Judge Says No.
Virginia's redistricting passed at the ballot box and was blocked the next morning. The midterm arms race just entered legal limbo.
The Supreme Court Is About to Rule on Birthright Citizenship. The Outcome May Turn on a Single Word from 1868.
Whether millions of US-born children of undocumented immigrants remain citizens may depend on how SCOTUS defines 'domicile' in the 14th Amendment. The court already signaled doubt about Trump's position. The market puts his odds at 8%.
AT&T and Verizon Want a Jury Trial for Their FCC Fines. The Supreme Court Seems Skeptical But Interested.
FCC v. AT&T asks whether the Seventh Amendment requires a jury trial before a federal agency can impose a nine-figure fine. The answer would reshape how every regulatory agency in the US enforces penalties.
The Fifth Circuit Just Told Texas It Can Post the Ten Commandments in Every Public School. The Supreme Court Has to Take This.
A 9-8 ruling by the most conservative federal appeals circuit reversed a lower court injunction and greenlit Texas Senate Bill 10. ACLU is appealing. Louisiana and Arkansas have similar laws waiting.
Trump Tells Companies to Waive Their Court-Ordered Refunds
The Supreme Court struck down his tariffs as unconstitutional. The refund portal is open. Trump is now pressuring companies to not use it, promising to 'remember' those who comply.
SCOTUS Takes Up a Case That Could Let Religious Schools Exclude LGBTQ Families and Still Take Public Money
The Catholic preschool case is not about preschools. It is about whether publicly funded institutions can use religious identity to opt out of nondiscrimination requirements.
Leaked Supreme Court Memos Show Roberts Built the Shadow Docket to Block Obama's Climate Policy
The documents don't just expose how a 2016 emergency stay happened. They reveal that the Chief Justice used internal persuasion campaigns to make unsigned, unreasoned emergency orders a standard tool of conservative governance.
The Government Is Mailing $166 Billion Back to Importers. Consumers Who Paid the Tariffs Get Nothing.
The refund portal is live. Only the companies that wrote the checks to Customs can claim. The people who actually absorbed the cost in higher prices are legally invisible.
The Supreme Court Is About to Rule That the 14th Amendment Means What It Says
Oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara exposed the government's 'domicile' theory as untenable. Multiple conservative justices are already signaling they will not accept it. A decision is expected in late June.
The Largest Trade Refund in US History Goes to the Wrong People
The CAPE portal opened Monday for businesses to claim $127-166 billion in tariff refunds. Consumers who actually paid the higher prices get nothing.
Tariffs Ruled Illegal, Then Hiked to 15%
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA tariffs as unconstitutional, so Trump raised them under a different legal theory.
The FTC Is Doing to NewsGuard What Rhode Island Did to Comic Books in 1956.
Courts have repeatedly ruled that government pressure on private intermediaries to suppress speech is unconstitutional. The Trump administration is doing it anyway, from a different direction.
SCOTUS Heard the Birthright Citizenship Case. The Justices Are Not Buying It.
Across the ideological spectrum, Supreme Court justices pressed Trump's solicitor general on why the 14th Amendment means something different now. He had no good answer.
The New York Times Got the Supreme Court's Internal Memos. The Leak Matters More Than the Memos.
SCOTUS justices are publicly feuding over the shadow docket just as someone with access handed their private deliberations to a reporter.
Trump Says Tariffs Will Replace the Income Tax. The Math Doesn't Work. That's Not the Point.
The proposal is arithmetically impossible and legally requires Congress. It is doing its intended job anyway.
The $127 Billion Refund Nobody Will Receive
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA tariffs. Starting April 20, companies can apply for refunds. Most will not get them. Trump already has a backup plan.
The Government Is Refunding $127 Billion in Tariffs. It Plans to Collect Them Again by July.
The Supreme Court said IEEPA tariffs were illegal. CBP opens a refund portal on April 20. Treasury Secretary Bessent says replacement tariffs will be back at roughly the same levels by summer.
Justice Jackson Says the Supreme Court Is Rubber-Stamping Illegal Policies. She Is Probably Right.
A sitting justice went to Yale Law School to accuse her colleagues of issuing 'scratch-paper musings' that let Trump implement policies courts already found unlawful.
Tariffs Struck Down, Tariffs Coming Back
The Supreme Court ruled Trump's emergency tariff powers unconstitutional. The administration is already routing around the ruling.
The Justice Who Said What the Court Won't
Ketanji Brown Jackson's Yale speech against the shadow docket is not just dissent: it is a warning about what the Court has already become.
SCOTUS Is About to Rule on Birthright Citizenship. The Market Says 94% Chance They Strike It Down.
The Supreme Court heard final arguments on Trump's executive order redefining citizenship. The constitutional question is live. The outcome almost certainly isn't.
The Case That Could Let Big Telecom Ignore Privacy Fines
The Supreme Court hears argument April 21 on whether AT&T and Verizon had a right to a jury trial before the FCC fined them $104 million for selling customer location data. The answer could gut every federal agency's ability to enforce its rules.
The Court Ordered $133 Billion Back. Now What?
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA tariffs. A federal court ordered refunds. Trump is already testing a workaround using a different statute. The constitutional crisis is just starting.
Who Is an American
SCOTUS heard two hours of argument on birthright citizenship. Conservative justices were skeptical of Trump. A ruling isn't the end of the story.
The Shadow Docket Catches Up
A divided appeals court sent the DOGE-Social Security data case back to district court. In the 89 pages of competing opinions, a Supreme Court justice's original warning about unfettered data access looks more prescient than when she wrote it.
The $166 Billion Waiting Room
The Supreme Court ordered a tariff refund. The money doesn't exist yet. Meanwhile Trump has already replaced the struck-down tariffs with a new legal theory a trade court is currently shredding.
Tariff Whack-a-Mole
After SCOTUS killed the IEEPA tariffs, Trump pivoted to Section 122. Now that too is before a federal court, and the question is whether any statutory authority can sustain his trade policy.
The Tariff That Outlived Its Legal Theory
Trump's 10% global tariff is standing on a 1974 law the Supreme Court already gutted, and a panel of judges just told him so.
SCOTUS Is About to Strike Down the Birthright Citizenship Order. That Is Not the Hard Part.
The justices are almost certain to rule against Trump. The question they are really debating is how far the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause reaches, and the answer will outlast this case.
Sotomayor Says the Supreme Court Did This to Itself
The Trump administration has filed 30 emergency SCOTUS applications. The court has ruled in its favor more than 80% of the time. Sotomayor's diagnosis: the conservative majority created the incentive by treating temporary orders as permanent wins.
SCOTUS Will Almost Certainly Strike Down the Birthright Order. The Reasoning May Be Worse Than the Order.
Polymarket gives Trump's birthright citizenship executive order a 4.9% chance of surviving. But Justice Sotomayor raised the question nobody wants answered: if the logic works for future babies, does it work for people already born?
The Court That Remade America: SCOTUS Is Now the First Since the 1950s to Reject Most Civil Rights Claims
A Washington Post statistical analysis finds Trump's three appointees pushed the Court to reject civil rights cases at a rate not seen in 70 years. Justice Sotomayor is publicly naming what happened.
Trump Threatened 50% Tariffs on Iran's Arms Suppliers. The Supreme Court Already Took Away His Authority to Do That.
Hours after signing a two-week ceasefire with Iran, Trump announced tariffs on any country arming Tehran. citing no legal basis, just days after the Supreme Court stripped his primary enforcement mechanism.