Justice, Democracy, and Law is a recurring series by Edward B. Foley that focuses on election law and the relationship of law and democracy.

“Original public meaning” has become the prevailing method of constitutional interpretation at the Supreme Court. The idea, which is at the heart of originalism, will be familiar to many SCOTUSblog readers. It is that the text of the Constitution must be understood and enforced by the court today in the same way that the text was understood by members of the public at the time the text became law.

Justice Samuel Alito was hospitalized on March 20 “[o]ut of an abundance of caution” and at the recommendation of his security detail, the Supreme Court’s Public Information Officer, Patricia McCabe, said in a statement released to reporters on Friday afternoon. The statement came in response to inquiries prompted by a story by CNN’s Joan Biskupic, who reported on Friday that Alito “was taken to a hospital after becoming ill last month at a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia.” McCabe’s statement did not indicate whether doctors had provided Alito with a diagnosis or, if they had, what that diagnosis was.

Empirical SCOTUS is a recurring series by Adam Feldman that looks at Supreme Court data, primarily in the form of opinions and oral arguments, to provide insights into the justices’ decision making and what we can expect from the court in the future.

As Amy Howe reported for SCOTUSblog on Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard just over two hours of oral argument on April 1 in Trump v. Barbara, the challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are undocumented or present in the country on temporary visas. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued for the government. ACLU National Legal Director Cecillia Wang argued for a class of affected children and families. Trump attended the argument – the first sitting president to do so – and departed shortly after Sauer finished his presentation.

As much of the legal media (including SCOTUSblog) reported last month, Chief Justice John Roberts offered some rare public remarks in an appearance at Rice University, rebuking personal attacks on judges.

“Personally directed hostility is dangerous,” he said, “and it’s got to stop.”

The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed sympathetic to a Mississippi man who argues that a district attorney violated the Constitution’s ban on racial discrimination in jury selection. Terry Pitchford is on death row for his role in the 2004 robbery and murder of Reuben Britt, who owned a store in Grenada County, Mississippi. At his trial, prosecutor Doug Evans eliminated four potential jurors, all of whom were Black, over the objections of Pitchford’s lawyers.