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EMERGENCY DOCKET

Supreme Court denies Florida’s request to enforce state law on illegal immigration

By Amy Howe on July 9 at 4:05 pm

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied Florida’s request to enforce a state law making it a crime for persons to enter the country illegally or remain in that state. The court provided no explanation for its decision, which consisted of a one-sentence order.

View from the floor of the Supreme Court building to its ceiling by the pillars

(Jesse Collins via Unsplash)

EMERGENCY DOCKET

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to implement plans to significantly reduce the federal workforce

By Amy Howe on July 8 at 5:06 pm

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court paused a district court order blocking the Trump administration from implementing an executive order calling for large-scale reductions in the federal workforce. Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, writing that the court’s ruling allows “an apparently unprecedented and congressionally unsanctioned dismantling of the Federal Government to continue apace.”

EMPIRICAL SCOTUS

How the 2024 term fits into the history of the Roberts court

By Adam Feldman on July 9 at 5:45 pm

This term marked the 20th for the Roberts court. This post analyzes data from the recently completed term and places it in the context of the 19 terms before it, looking at the justices’ votes and alliances from a variety of angles and focusing on the most contentious decisions – those that were decided by a difference of three justices’ votes or fewer. It finds the Supreme Court has entered a period of less volatility and more ideological rigidity.

ScotusCrim

The criminal side of the docket is not what you think

By Rory Little on July 9 at 1:05 pm

You might not know it from the general media coverage, but the criminal side of the Supreme Court’s docket, every year, produces a significant chunk of its decisions. It is perhaps the largest single category. Counting not just “pure” criminal law cases, but also “criminal law and related” decisions, reveals that 29 of the court’s reported 67 merits decisions – over 40% – address topics of interest to criminal law practitioners. In addition – surprise! – of 14 pure criminal law decisions, 10 came out in favor of the “liberal” perspective. A list, and some speculation, follow.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

The morning read for Wednesday, July 9

By Zachary Shemtob on July 9, 2025

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

SCOTUS NEWS

Does Justice Kagan stand alone?

By Kelsey Dallas on July 8, 2025

The most surprising part of the Supreme Court’s Thursday order enabling the Trump administration to move forward with sending eight immigrants to South Sudan wasn’t the decision. After all, the court had already sided with the government on deportations to third-party countries in late June; Thursday’s order clarified the reach of that opinion, rather than revealing something truly new.

Instead, the surprise came from Justice Elena Kagan, who, rather than siding with her liberal colleagues, spotlighted her break from them with a brief concurring opinion

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IN DISSENT

The dissent that broke a justice

By Anastasia Boden on July 8, 2025

In Dissent is a recurring series by Anastasia Boden on Supreme Court dissents that have shaped (or reshaped) our country. 

It was a case that sent one justice into a mental health crisis and is said to have left another, just two weeks later, on the floor of his chambers from a stroke. A case that Chief Justice Earl Warren – the same man who presided over Brown v. Board of Education – called the most consequential of his career. Indeed, Baker v. Carr was so contentious it had to be argued twice. And though it was “merely” about maps, it produced a barnburner of a dissent that’s still relevant to debates about the proper role of judges today.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

The morning read for Tuesday, July 8

By Zachary Shemtob on July 8, 2025

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:

Also, beginning at 5 pm tonight, we hope to be live streaming the 2025 Supreme Court Review, presented by The National Constitution Center and the Center on the Structural Constitution at Texas A&M University School of Law.

TERM IN REVIEW

Federal fraud after Kousisis

By Richard Cooke on July 7, 2025

This is part of SCOTUSblog’s term in review series, in which scholars analyze some of the most significant cases of the 2024-25 Supreme Court term.

In Kousisis v. United States, decided on May 22, the Supreme Court considered the breadth of federal wire and mail fraud offenses and unanimously rejected a requirement that a fraud victim suffer a net economic loss. Instead, the court focused on whether the fraudster’s misrepresentations were material – that is, whether they would have affected the victim’s decision to engage in the fraudulent transaction in the first place.

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