Oral argument live blog for Wednesday, January 21

In Barrett v. United States, the court held in an opinion by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause prohibits a defendant from receiving two convictions for a single act that violates two closely related federal firearm offenses, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i) and 18 U.S.C. § 924(j).

Major Questions is a recurring series by Adam White, which analyzes the court’s approach to administrative law, agencies, and the lower courts.

Like the still-pending tariffs case, Wednesday’s oral arguments in Trump v. Cook will attract attention far beyond the usual court-watchers. The president’s attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor raises enormous questions for global markets and American law – all the more so after the latest news of a Justice Department investigation of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, and Powell’s denunciation of it. When the justices gather to hear oral arguments, the world will be watching.

But what, exactly, will we be watching?

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon added four new cases, on topics ranging from the Fourth Amendment to federal preemption, to its Oral Argument Docket for the 2025-26 term. The announcement came as part of a list of orders released from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day.

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in yet another battle over the president’s power to remove the heads of independent agencies created by Congress. Wednesday’s arguments center on President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, in August 2025. The lower courts have thwarted his efforts to do so thus far, but the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to put those rulings on hold while Cook’s challenge to her firing continues. Here’s a brief explainer on the case, Trump v. Cook, and its background.

Next week’s argument in M&K Employee Solutions v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund presents a technical question of great monetary significance – how to calculate what a business owes if it withdraws from a multi-employer pension plan.