SCOTUSblog is excited to announce the addition of podcasts Amarica’s Constitution and Divided Argument to its podcast lineup, joining Advisory Opinions. In a new, jam-packed episode, the hosts of all three podcasts discuss the current term and the future of originalism.
At the Court
On Monday, the court announced that it will hear argument in Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan, a dispute over the interaction between two federal environmental laws. For more on Monday’s order list, see Amy’s coverage in the On Site section below.
The interim docket case on the Trump administration’s effort to remove protected status from Syrian nationals is now fully briefed, and the court’s decision could come at any time. On Monday, the administration filed a letter addressing a recent development in a related case on Haitian nationals, noting that it will soon file an application for interim relief in that case.
The court will next hear arguments on Monday, March 23, the first day of its March sitting.
Morning Reads
Trump administration criticizes court rulings slowing immigration agenda in Supreme Court appeal
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
In a Monday filing in an interim docket case on the Trump administration’s effort to remove protected status from Syrian nationals, the administration highlighted a new lower court ruling in a similar case involving Haitians and urged the Supreme Court to issue “a broad ruling that would let it move more quickly to end legal protections for migrants from multiple countries,” according to the Associated Press. “Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the lower-court judges have shown ‘persistent disregard’ for the court’s earlier emergency-docket decisions” in cases on the Temporary Protected Status program, adding that recent rulings are “part of a cycle that looks ‘likely to repeat again and again unless and until this Court steps in.’”
Judge pushes back timeline for tariff refunds
Zach Schonfeld, The Hill
After initially ordering “immediate compliance” with his decision requiring the Trump administration to begin processing tariff refunds, U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton has given the administration “some breathing room,” according to The Hill. Eaton “pushed back the timeline” for refunds after “Customs and Border protection (CBP) indicated it needed 45 days to set up an automated system,” but he still expects the government to move with urgency. “These duties must now be refunded with interest, and the clock is ticking,” Eaton wrote, ordering the government to provide a progress report by Thursday.
A Jan. 6 rioter doesn't want Trump's pardon. Supreme Court weighs in.
Maureen Groppe, USA Today
On Monday, the justices declined a case brought to the court by Glenn Brooks, who was asking to be allowed to continue challenging his conviction “for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol,” according to USA Today. “Lower courts had canceled Brooks’ conviction for entering the Capitol and dismissed his appeal as no longer relevant after Trump last year pardoned nearly 1,600 people charged in the 2021 riot.” Brooks had hoped for his case to be resurrected because “[h]e would rather try to clear his name through the courts than accept a pardon.”
Hip-Hop Icons Tell Justices That Texas Turned Rap Lyrics Into a Death Warrant
Adam Liptak, The New York Times
As lawyers for death-row inmate James Broadnax urge the Supreme Court to delay his execution for two 2008 murders and hear his appeal, they’re getting support “from towering figures in the world of hip-hop, including Killer Mike, T.I., Young Thug, Fat Joe and N.O.R.E.,” according to The New York Times. These artists are involved in amicus briefs about Broadnax’s rap lyrics, which featured “violent themes” and which his attorneys say should not have been used as evidence against him during the sentencing phase of his trial. “The rappers argue that prosecutors mistook the fantasy that is gangster rap for a literal account amounting to a confession.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett talks about the Supreme Court as dozens protest outside theater
Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
Justice Amy Coney Barrett spoke on Sunday in Sante Fe, New Mexico, about her recent book and her work on the court, as “dozens of people stood outside the [event venue] to voice their displeasure at her appearance [based on such things as her vote to overturn Roe v. Wade],” according to the Albuquerque Journal. Barrett alluded to protesters when asked about important traits for judges to have. “I think you need to have a judge that can withstand pressure from the outside and make decisions that are truly what the judge, in her best judgment, thinks are what the law requires without regard to the pushback or the disappointment that you might get,” she said. “And the thing about the law and the thing about being a judge is you are going to disappoint one side. That’s the nature of the enterprise.” Barrett referenced the personal attacks she’s faced when explaining whether she had dreamed of being a justice. “One of the law clerks of another justice asked me that the other day, and I said, ‘Do you mean when I was a little girl did I dream that people would call me a religious zealot, an embarrassment?’ Just teasing,” Barrett said.
On Site
Court agrees to hear case on environmental laws, does not act on several Second Amendment challenges
The Supreme Court on Monday added just one case – a technical dispute over the interaction between two federal environmental laws – to its docket for the 2026-27 term. It did not act on a variety of other high-profile petitions for review, including one from Steve Bannon and several on the Second Amendment.
The dissent that believed the Olympics belong to everyone
In her In Dissent column, Anastasia Boden explored a 1987 case on whether the U.S. Olympic Committee could prevent the Gay Olympic Games from using the word Olympic. Most justices agreed that the USOC had that power, but “even a few of those in the majority dissented when it came to power without accountability, and about the increasingly blurry line Congress sometimes draws between a creature of its own making and an arm of the state,” Boden wrote.
In birthright citizenship case, Justice Department urges court to treat an old concept in a new way
In his Immigration Matters column, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández pushed back against the Trump administration’s effort to grant birthright citizenship to only those children whose “parents had legal permission to live in the country permanently and in fact did so” at the time of the child’s birth, noting – among other things – that the legal concept of domicile, which is at the center of the administration’s argument, doesn’t appear in the text of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause.
The Other Jobs at SCOTUS
We get a lot of questions about what other employees work at the court besides the nine justices, their clerks, and the justices’ staff.
While some positions are pretty well known (likely the first people you’ll see when approaching the court are officers of the Supreme Court police, and the marshal calls the court to order before argument), what about the other “court officers”?
Outside of the marshal, there are 11 such employees, who are essential to “assist[ing] the Court in the performance of its functions,” according to the court’s website. They include: counselor to the chief justice, clerk, librarian, reporter of decisions, court counsel, curator, public information officer, director of information technology, budget director, human resources director, and the legislative affairs officer.
About some of these positions:
The counselor to the chief justice assists the chief justice “in administering the Court and the federal judiciary, and serves as the chief’s liaison to other government agencies.” The position originated under Chief Justice Warren Burger, who wanted “a high level administrative deputy or assistant” to help him with his administrative work (such as communicating with the chief judges of each judicial circuit and district, chairing the board of the Federal Judicial Center, and managing the Judicial Conference of the United States)
The current counselor to the chief justice is Robert M. Dow, Jr., who has been with Chief Justice John Roberts since 2022. Dow, a United States district judge, was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2007. Unlike those in other positions (like the marshal), he serves under the discretion of the chief justice, meaning Roberts can appoint, remove, and fix the compensation of the counselor.
The current clerk of the Supreme Court is Scott S. Harris – whose name you’ve likely seen many times if (like us) you pay any attention to SCOTUS filings. He was named to this position in 2013 and previously served as the Supreme Court’s legal counsel for 11 years. As clerk, Harris manages the clerk’s office, which processes filings, drafts letters after a ruling, and keeps the court’s records, among other things.
Librarian David S. Mao assumed his role in 2024. He “manage[s] the Supreme Court Library, its 29 employees, and a collection of nearly 650,000 volumes.” Before become Supreme Court librarian, Mao spent over a decade at the Library of Congress (good practice, one would assume).
Reporter of decisions Rebecca A. Womeldorf took on the role in 2021, and “prepares a syllabus or summary of the Court’s opinions for the convenience of readers.” From the court’s press release at the time: “Ms. Womeldorf will also be responsible for editing the opinions of the Supreme Court and supervising their printing and official publication in the United States Reports. She will oversee a staff of 10 professionals who examine each of the Court’s draft opinions, using the Supreme Court’s own Style Manual, to ensure accuracy and uniformity.”
Court Counsel Ethan V. Torrey provides legal services to the court as an institution, with the Court’s Legal Office offering “support to the Justices on a variety of case-related issues and legal services for the Court as an institution.”(Torrey replaced Harris as counsel when Harris became clerk of court.)
Matthew D. Hofstedt is the curator of the Supreme Court; the Curator’s Office “collect[s] the institution’s rich history, share[s] it with a diverse audience through a variety of programs, and preserve[s] it for future generations.” (More on that in a future column.)
But perhaps the position best known by journalists (including us at SCOTUSblog) is Patricia McCabe, the public information officer. She is the court’s official spokesperson and her office, among other tasks, issues the opinions and orders of the court, as well as credentials reporters.
SCOTUS Quote
JUSTICE KAGAN: “Do you think it’s a problem for your position that no other court in the world has construed the treaty this way?”
MR. HOOTMAN: “That’s clearly a problem. That’s why I focused so hard on text.”
(Laughter.)
MR. HOOTMAN: “I mean – I mean –”
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: “Someone’s got to be first, right?”
Kelsey Dallas is SCOTUSblog's managing editor and the primary author of the SCOTUStoday newsletter.
Nora is an editorial assistant at SCOTUSblog, based in Washington, D.C.
Recommended Citation: Kelsey Dallas & Nora Collins, SCOTUStoday for Tuesday, March 10, SCOTUSblog (Mar. 10, 2026, 9:00 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/scotustoday-for-tuesday-march-10/