{"id":341,"date":"2026-07-06T14:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T14:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=341"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T14:40:19","slug":"the-justices-remained-busy-last-summer-this-year-will-they-actually-get-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=341","title":{"rendered":"The justices remained busy last summer. This year, will they actually get a break?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

One year ago, the Supreme Court had just wrapped up the 2024-25 term with a series of high-profile rulings, including decisions limiting the availability of universal injunctions and upholding a state ban on certain medical treatments for transgender minors. It was time for the summer recess, when the court typically takes a break from considering petitions for review, hearing arguments, and releasing decisions, and the justices typically take a break from … each other. Instead, they travel, spend time with loved ones, and teach seminars.<\/p>\n

Read more The powerful, resilient, independent Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n

But last year\u2019s recess did not turn out to be typical. While the justices did squeeze in speaking engagements and vacations, they also handled several significant matters on the court\u2019s interim or emergency docket, addressing requests from the Trump administration to, among other things, be allowed to reduce the size of the federal workforce, fire three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, terminate nearly $800 million in grants, and more freely make immigration stops in the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

In responding to these requests, the justices had to engage with multiple briefs and, in some cases, produce separate writings. All told, seven of the nine justices wrote separately at least once last summer in an interim docket case involving the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

While that may still add up to less work than many adults do in July, August, and September, some court watchers feared that it spelled trouble for the justices, who are believed to benefit from the time apart. \u201cI really do have deep fears that the incredible rate of decision making over this summer is going to have long-term negative consequences for dynamics within the Supreme Court itself,\u201d said Justin Driver, a professor at Yale Law School, during the SCOTUSblog Summit last September.<\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t know what, if any, effect the lack of a true summer break actually had on the justices, we do know that tensions seemed to be high throughout this term. Things came to something of a head in April, when Justice Sonia Sotomayor made the unusual move of openly criticizing a fellow justice \u2013 she suggested that Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s in last summer\u2019s interim docket case on immigration stops misrepresented the actual impact of such stops and stated that this came \u201cfrom a man whose parents were professionals … [a]nd probably doesn\u2019t really know any person who works by the hour.\u201d (Sotomayor later apologized for her remarks.) And Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson described her conservative colleagues\u2019 emergency docket decisions in favor of the Trump administration as \u201cscratch-paper musings\u201d that \u201cseem oblivious and thus ring hollow.\u201d<\/p>\n

That unexpected April drama gave way to the more standard fireworks of opinion season, when justices often exchange at least a few written barbs. Indeed, the end-of-term skirmishes started a bit early this year, with the release of a major ruling on the Voting Rights Act on April 29. Louisiana v. Callais<\/em> limited the application of a key VRA provision barring racial discrimination in voting and led to follow-up orders clearing the way for Louisiana and Alabama to use new congressional maps. When the court agreed to finalize the Callais<\/em> ruling sooner than is typical to create more time for redistricting, Jackson that it had \u201cspawned chaos.\u201d In a concurring opinion supporting the court\u2019s order, Justice Samuel Alito that Jackson\u2019s rhetoric \u201clacks restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court released several more major rulings over the past two weeks, on such issues as birthright citizenship, the president\u2019s power to fire the heads of independent agencies, transgender athletes, and immigration. In addition to the (perhaps expected) moments of indignation in written opinions, there was a jarring comment in the courtroom after Sotomayor read from her dissent in a case on asylum seekers. Alito, who wrote the , expressed surprise at her remarks, saying, \u201cThere is much that I would have added to my bench statement had I know there would be a dissent read.\u201d (The court later said that the moment resulted from a \u201cmisunderstanding on Justice Alito\u2019s part.\u201d)<\/p>\n

But last week, the justices released their final rulings in argued cases and orders from their \u201cclean-up\u201d conference, clearing out petitions for review that had been awaiting the results of this term\u2019s work. They were free to say, as Chief Justice John Roberts recently put it, \u201csee you in September.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Is the Roberts court hyperopic or willfully blind?<\/a><\/p>\n

The summer ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking out at the legal landscape in early July, it appears unlikely that the Trump administration will have as much work for the justices this summer, although cases can develop quickly. As it stands, there is one notable matter pending on the court\u2019s interim docket, and it does not involve the administration.<\/p>\n

The pending dispute is an effort by a student group and trade association to bar Texas from enforcing a law that imposes age-verification and parental-consent requirements on minors\u2019 access to apps. In December 2025, a U.S. district judge temporarily blocked the law, called the App Store Accountability Act, from taking effect, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on hold. The students and trade association contend that Texas\u2019 policy violates the First Amendment, while Texas counters that the law can overcome the First Amendment challenge because it serves a substantial state interest. The matter is fully briefed, so the court could act at any time.<\/p>\n

Possible contenders to disrupt the justices\u2019 summer recess are a dispute over construction of a new White House ballroom and the president\u2019s effort to use the U.S. Postal Service to limit mail-in voting.<\/p>\n

As to the former, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is weighing the $400 million White House ballroom project, which has been challenged by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The nonprofit claims that the administration needed congressional approval before starting construction, while the administration counters that such construction projects are not reviewable in the courts. A federal judge in D.C. above-ground work on the ballroom on hold, but the D.C. Circuit construction to move forward amid the legal challenge. If the D.C. Circuit halts the project with a ruling this summer, the administration would likely come to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The second case centers on Trump\u2019s executive order from March titled \u201cEnsuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.\u201d Among other guidance, the order instructs USPS to work in coordination with states to ensure that only eligible voters case mail-in ballots. A federal judge in Boston this aspect of the order in late June, and the Trump administration has since signaled that it will appeal that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in hopes of being able to implement its planned changes to mail-in voting in time for this year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

So until or unless these disputes or others pop up on the emergency docket, the justices may be able to get more of a summer break than the last time around.<\/p>\n

Read more Looking back and looking ahead<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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