SCOTUStoday for Monday, April 13

The court will next hear arguments one week from today, on Monday, April 20, the first day of its April sitting.

Speculation has been swirling that Justice Samuel Alito, 76, will soon announce his retirement, but “the taciturn justice has not indicated even to friends whether or when he might retire,” according to The New York Times. “Ed Whelan, a prominent conservative legal commentator,” told the Times that he does not expect a vacancy this year, in part because, in retiring, Alito would be walking away from “so many big cases at the court” and “‘the potential to be in the majority in a way that he couldn’t count on in his first dozen years’ on the bench.” But one factor pushing Alito toward retirement may be the 2026 midterm elections, when Republicans may lose control of the Senate. “In interviews, Justice Alito’s friends, former colleagues and law clerks said that the justice is well aware of the political calendar and would prefer to have a Republican president choose his successor.”

On Friday, the U.S. Court of International Trade heard arguments “in an attempt to overturn the temporary tariffs Trump turned to after the Supreme Court in February struck down” those imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The temporary tariffs were imposed under “Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose global tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, after which congressional approval is needed to extend them.” The text of Section 122 addresses “fundamental international payments problems,” and the current dispute involving the administration, two dozen states, and some businesses concerns is over “whether that wording covers trade deficits.” Ryan Majerus, a former U.S. trade official, told the AP that he expects the CIT to side with the administration “considering that [the tariffs] will expire in three and a half months anyway.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Saturday sent a case on the White House ballroom construction project back to the district court for reconsideration of “the possible national security implications of halting construction,” according to CBS News. The “three-judge panel … said it did not have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff.” “Government lawyers had argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards,” contending that those security upgrades need to be installed as soon as possible. The trial judge had put the construction on hold until April 14, but “[t]he appeals court extended that for three days, to April 17, to allow the Trump administration to seek Supreme Court review.”

On Thursday, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit declined to review a three-judge panel’s ruling upholding “the Trump administration’s policy of keeping illegal immigrants in detention during their deportation proceedings,” according to the Washington Examiner. “The 5th Circuit’s 2-1 ruling earlier this year found that just because previous administrations did not use their power under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to detain illegal immigrants indefinitely, rather than allow them to seek release on bond, that does not mean presidents do not have that power.” “It is unclear if the Supreme Court would take up the case from the 5th Circuit for review, but if the justices were to do so, the earliest it would likely be heard is during the high court’s next term, which begins in October.”