The Trump administration on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to block the new congressional map adopted by California voters in November. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that the map, which the state says was intended to create five new Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in response to the creation of five new Republican seats in Texas, “is tainted by an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

Ratio Decidendi is a recurring series by Stephanie Barclay exploring the reasoning – from practical considerations to deep theory – behind our nation’s most consequential constitutional decisions.

On Tuesday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sat en banc to hear oral argument in two consolidated cases challenging state laws requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms. Roake v. Brumley involves Louisiana’s House Bill 71; Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District challenges Texas’ Senate Bill 10.

Nuts and Bolts is a recurring series by Stephen Wermiel providing insights into the mechanics of how the Supreme Court works.

 An important window may be closing at the Supreme Court.

No, not because of the current renovation taking place on the Supreme Court Building at One First Street.

The window that is closing is the opportunity for petitioners – that is, litigants who lost in the lower courts and want the Supreme Court to weigh in – to have their cases argued and decided in the current court term rather than having to wait until next fall. Both by tradition and because of the amount of time it takes to file briefs in cases, January is typically the cut-off for scheduling a case for argument in the same term.

Tuesday’s argument in M&K Employee Solutions v Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund showed a bench skeptical of forcing actuaries to use out-of-date assumptions when they work on pension plans.

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

The defining theme of the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, at least from the perspective of those who focus on the Supreme Court, has been whether the court is able and willing to protect America’s constitutional democracy from a president who seeks to be an autocrat.