Split Supreme Court blocks first religious charter school in Oklahoma

This article was updated on May 23 at 3:43 p.m.

A government watchdog group on Friday urged the Supreme Court to deny the Trump administration’s request to pause an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would require the Department of Government Efficiency to provide information in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Lawyers for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told the justices that, under the guise of seeking to put the “narrowly-tailored” order on hold, the government was actually asking the court to weigh in on whether DOGE is in fact a government agency subject to FOIA – the question, CREW said, at the center of the dispute. 

On Friday afternoon, Chief Justice John Roberts entered an administrative stay in the case, which puts Cooper’s order on hold temporarily to give the court time to consider DOGE’s request. 

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

• Supreme Court allows Trump to fire members of independent agency boards — for now (Nina Totenberg, NPR)
• Supreme Court upholds Oklahoma decision, in blow to religious charter schools (Breanne Deppisch, Bill Mears, and Shannon Bream, Fox News)
• ‘Hidden’ Provision in Trump’s Big Bill Could Disarm US Supreme Court (Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek)
• The religious right just suffered a rare setback in the Supreme Court, in Oklahoma v. Drummond (Ian Millhiser, Vox)
• The Major Supreme Court Decisions to Watch This Summer (Laura Mannweiler, U.S. News & World Report)

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

There are 102 petitions and applications on the Supreme Court’s docket for this week’s conference. After several months of relisting cases at a slow rate, the court has picked up the pace: There are six newly relisted cases this week covering a wide range of subjects.

We’re expecting one or more opinions from the court at 10 a.m. EDT. Join us for the live blog, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

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

• Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Shield DOGE From Releasing Records (Abbie VanSickle, The New York Times)
• Disney suspends Venezuelan workers on Supreme Court ruling (Fabiola Zerpa, Los Angeles Times)
• Vance says Roberts is ‘profoundly wrong’ about judiciary’s role to check executive branch (Kit Maher, CNN)
• Trump Judge Slams Supreme Court ‘Disrespect’ After Ruling (Jenna Sundel, Newsweek)
• Jackson most vocal member on Supreme Court bench: Analysis (Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld, The Hill)

This article was updated on May 21 at 2:38 p.m.

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, once again asking the justices to take action on their emergency docket. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the court to temporarily pause an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would require the Department of Government Efficiency to provide information in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Sauer told the justices that requiring DOGE as a “presidential advisory body” to respond to the plaintiffs’ requests, a process known as discovery, “clearly violates the separation of powers” and “will significantly distract” from DOGE’s “mission of identifying and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government.”

Chief Justice John Roberts instructed CREW to file a response to the government’s request by noon on Friday, May 23.