WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Tuesday, Dec. 10

The Supreme Court will issue one or more opinions from the current term this morning at 10 a.m. EST, followed by oral arguments in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado. Follow along for our live coverage. In Seven County, backers of a proposed train linking Utah oilfields to refineries on the Gulf Coast ask the justices to overturn a lower court decision blocking the project and narrow the scope of what environmental impacts the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act requires agencies to review. 

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

• US supreme court hears oil railway case with environmental protections at stake (Nina Lakhani, The Guardian)
• Supreme Court weighs environmental dispute over Utah oil railway (Lawrence Hurley, NBC News)
• Supreme Court Turns Down Cases on Admissions, Gender Identity and Guns (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
• Supreme Court turns away Wisconsin parents who say schools are hiding transgender support plans as Alito dissents (John Fritze, CNN)
• Supreme Court rejects challenge to Hawaii gun licensing rules — for now (Nina Totenberg, NPR)

Coming up: On Wednesday, Dec. 11, the court expects to issue one or more opinions from the current term. 

WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Monday, Dec. 9

The court will meet for oral arguments this morning in Kousisis v. U.S., a question about what constitutes wire fraud, and Feliciano v. Department of Transportation on differential pay for federal civilian employees called to active military duty during a national emergency. 

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

• TikTok Asks To Pause Ban While It Appeals To Supreme Court (Alison Durkee, Forbes)
• 5 takeaways from the Biden carbon rule’s big day at the DC Circuit (Niina H. Farah & Lesley Clark, E&E News)
• How billionaire Charles Koch’s network won a 40-year war to curb regulation (Justin Jouvenal, Jon Swaine, & Ann E. Marimow, The Washington Post)
• A Century-Old Law’s Aftershocks Are Still Felt at the Supreme Court (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
• Supreme Court Term Limits? Senators Push for Constitutional Change (Adeola Adeosun, Newsweek)

Coming up: On Tuesday, Dec. 10, the court expects to issue one or more opinions from the current term. 

Petitions of the week

New York man challenges fraud conviction based on virtual video testimony

The Petitions of the Week column highlights some of the cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

The Sixth Amendment gives defendants in criminal trials the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against” them. Known as the confrontation clause, this provision has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to recognize that cross-examining the prosecution’s witnesses is especially essential to a fair trial in the criminal context. This week, we highlight petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, whether allowing key prosecution witnesses to testify remotely over a two-way video call violates the confrontation clause.

John Won and Tae Hung Kang are New York residents charged with operating an international investment scam. Through a series of ads placed in Korean newspapers and radio programs, as well as in-person seminars in a Korean enclave of Queens, Won and Kang sold dozens of individuals on a lucrative offer to speculate in foreign currency markets. The pair hinted that they had a “secret trading method” guaranteeing 10% returns with zero risk.

WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Friday, Dec. 6

Follow us on Bluesky; we’ll have live updates as the court announces opinions on Tuesday, Dec. 10. 

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

• US Supreme Court could allow broader curbs on transgender rights (Andrew Chung, Reuters) 
• Root Inc. Investors Drop Petition to Supreme Court in Risks Case (Martina Barash, Bloomberg Law)
• Protests outside of Supreme Court capture growing fears for transgender Americans (Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News)
• SCOTUS Clerk Hiring Watch: Retirement Clues? (David Lat, Original Jurisdiction) 
• The Supreme Court Just Showed Us What Contempt for Expertise Looks Like (M. Gessen, The New York Times)

Coming up: On Tuesday, Dec. 10, the court expects to issue one or more opinions from the current term. 

RELIST WATCH

Personal jurisdiction, habeas, and a possible replacement case

UPDATE Dec. 6: Plumbers Local has filed a motion to dismiss its petition for review in Plumbers Local #290 Pension Trust Fund v. Root, so the justices will not consider the case at their conference on Friday. 

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.

The Supreme Court is continuing to work through its relisted cases. Last month it granted the petitions filed by the federal government and by a group of schools and libraries seeking to challenge the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit invalidating a system of subsidies for rural and low-income broadband service.

It appears that the two relisted petitions asking the court to decide whether laws that limit participation on women’s and girls’ sports teams based on sex assigned at birth violates the 14th Amendment and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 are now being held for the transgender-care case United States v. Skrmetti, argued on Wednesday.