Berk v. Choy, to be argued on Oct. 6, surely will be the Supreme Court case of the year for medical professionals. At issue in the case is the extent to which a set of common state statutes designed to stem medical malpractice litigation apply in federal court. If they don’t apply in federal court, victims who have a way to get into federal court will have a much easier time pursuing litigation against doctors than those who cannot.

As the justices make their final preparations this week for the start of the 2025-26 term, they’ll also address the latest request for a stay of execution.  

Victor Tony Jones was sentenced to death in 1993 after being convicted of killing Matilda and Jacob Nestor in December 1990, and he is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday at 6 p.m. EDT. He has asked the court to block his execution to give the justices time to take up his case and hear oral arguments.

Lawyers representing Venezuelan citizens living in the United States under a program that provides them with a safe harbor here urged the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon to leave in place an order by a federal judge in San Francisco that temporarily bars the Trump administration from ending their protected status under that program. In a 40-page filing, UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham wrote that the order by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen “has provided respite” from the harm caused by an earlier order by the Supreme Court “by restoring the status quo. Disturbing it now will cause massive injuries to” the challengers “and their loved ones, including many American children.”

On Friday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of its birthright citizenship order. Although the administration’s decision to do so was not a great surprise, the issue has taken a somewhat meandering path to get to the court.

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the legality of President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end the guarantee of citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States. In a pair of nearly identical filings, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to review a ruling by a federal appeals court holding that the order violates the Constitution, as well as a similar decision by a federal judge in New Hampshire. Sauer told the court that “the mistaken view that birth on U.S. territory confers citizenship on anyone subject to the regulatory reach of U.S. law became pervasive, with destructive consequences.”