Enhance the Supreme Court minority’s procedural powers
This is the sixth piece in a series on what I believe the court can, and should, do better. Read more Solicitor General Sauer’s SCOTUS…
The radical Justice Thomas
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…
The state of the death penalty at the Supreme Court
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 that the U.S.…
Court asked to bar Alabama from using state’s preferred map
Plus, the court took up another case on the First Step Act.
Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory
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…
Court rejects broad interpretation of compassionate release statute
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…
Justices send case of death-row inmate back to lower courts, grant new First Step Act case
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…
The most important cases yet to be decided
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…
A brewing tariff refund battle
Plus, welcome to the heart of decision season.
Justices validate arbitration exemption for “last-mile” drivers
Yesterday’s in Flowers Foods v. Brock held that an exemption from the Federal Arbitration Act for interstate transportation workers extends to “last-mile” drivers who don’t themselves cross state lines, even…
The Supreme Court’s common sense problem
“Common sense” reasoning is becoming more common at the Supreme Court. The justices have explicitly relied on common sense to underwrite its holdings in several salient areas of law. And…