The 2024-25 term brought notable wins for the court’s conservative majority – and the Trump administration

This is part of SCOTUSblog’s term in review series, in which scholars analyze some of the most significant cases of the 2024-25 Supreme Court term.

The best that can be said for Trump v. CASA is that it could have been far worse. Its methodology and conclusions are myopic and wrong, and it is especially unwelcome during a period in which each passing day seems to bring new incursions by the executive branch upon individual rights, the separation of powers, federalism, and the rule of law. The court held that federal courts may not give universal injunctions, which are orders that block the application of a law or an executive branch action to anyone who might be harmed by it, not just its application to the plaintiffs. But despite the court’s seemingly categorical rejection of the universal injunction, the ironic possibility exists that the decision will turn out to be, as Justice Samuel Alito put it, essentially “academic.”  

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

• Trump Is Now More Powerful Thanks to the Supreme Court. But Will It Last? (Damon Root, Reason)
• How the Supreme Court has opened the way for citizenship chaos (Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post)
• The Supreme Court just ended its term. Here are the decisions that will affect climate policy. (Joseph Winters, Grist)
• Supreme Court’s Medina ruling frees states to defund Planned Parenthood (Kristen Waggoner, The Hill)
• ‘Heightened Scrutiny,’ Featuring Attorney Who Argued Crucial Trans Rights Supreme Court Case, To Get Theatrical Release From Fourth Act Film (Matthew Carey, Deadline)

Courtly Observations is a recurring series by Erwin Chemerinsky that focuses on what the Supreme Court’s decisions will mean for the law, for lawyers and lower courts, and for people’s lives.

As someone who grew up (and continues to be) obsessed with baseball statistics, I think that a great deal can be learned from looking at the numbers concerning the Supreme Court (and SCOTUSblog does as well, as reflected in its 2024-25 Stat Pack). And now that the court has completed issuing decisions other than emergency matters, it is possible to study the statistics for October Term 2024.

If you haven’t already, please check out our SCOTUSblog Stat Pack for the 2024-25 term, which can be found here.

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

• SCOTUS orders judges to revisit decisions on transgender health plans, birth certificates in wake of blockbuster ruling (John Fritz and Devan Cole, CNN)
• Supreme Court to Take on Major Labels’ Billion-Dollar Copyright Case Against Cox (Andrew Flanagan, Variety)
• What the Supreme Court Injunction Ruling Means for Trump’s Agenda (Zoe Tillman, Bloomberg)
• Justice Kagan Won 70% of the Time (The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal)
• Liberals Are Going to Keep Losing at the Supreme Court (Duncan Hosie, The Atlantic)

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added seven new cases, covering issues ranging from campaign-finance regulations to the flexibility of the deadline to move a case from state to federal court, to its docket for the 2025-26 term. The list of orders released from the justices’ private conference on Thursday, June 26, was one of the final opportunities for the justices to bulk up next term’s docket before their summer recess.

The cases granted on Monday will likely be argued in the fall, with a ruling to follow sometime in 2026.