Nine justices, nine styles
Please note that SCOTUS Outside Opinions constitute the views of outside contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SCOTUSblog or its staff. Read more Dissents on the emergency…
Dissents on the emergency docket are not created equal
By now, you have probably read a great deal about the Supreme Court’s emergency docket – and a fair amount about the justices who disagree with its orders. Over the…
The case for Callais
This publication has been inundated with essays by academics critical of Louisiana v. Callais, but has not published a single one in defense of it. So I decided to take…
The history the court would rather not see
In 2021’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that modern gun laws must be “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation”…
Heller and Bruen are here to stay
The October 2025 Supreme Court Term was a good one for the Second Amendment. In United States v. Hemani, the court held by a 9-0 vote that it violates the…
In birthright citizenship dissent, Justice Thomas stakes out an ideological claim of who counts as an American
The Supreme Court’s decision about President Donald Trump’s attempt to narrow access to birthright citizenship left no doubt that a majority of justices agree it’s illegal. But two justices, Clarence…
The administrative agency cases were not the court’s only significant separation of powers decisions this term
Please note that SCOTUS Outside Opinions constitute the views of outside contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SCOTUSblog or its staff. Read more The public’s view of…
Narrow holdings with broad consequences
June brought two Second Amendment decisions. In United States v. Hemani, the court unanimously sustained Ali Hemani’s challenge to his indictment under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), for possessing firearms while…
The court’s criminal law term: overview and observations
Approximately two weeks after of the 57 argued cases decided by the Supreme Court in the October 2025-26 Term was filed, this column presents an overview of the “pure” criminal…
Two cheers – but not three – for Roberts and Barrett
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett deserve high praise for the pivotal role they played at the end of the just-concluded term in two key cases. Read…