Interim Docket
The Supreme Court’s interim relief docket, also known as the emergency docket or shadow docket, consists of applications seeking immediate action from the court. These cases are handled on an expedited basis with limited briefing and typically (though not always) no oral argument, and the court often resolves them in unsigned orders with little or no explanation (though there may be concurrences or dissents). This page shows significant applications filed during the October 2023 term.
Federal Government Prevailed
Federal Government Unsuccessful
Decided applications (33)
| Docket | Case Page | Issue(s) | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23a1129 | Whether the Supreme Court should grant Stephen Bannon continued release pending further appeal of his convictions on two counts of contempt of Congress. | Application for release denied on June 28, 2024. | |
| 23a851 | Whether the Supreme Court should grant a partial stay of the district court panel's injunction to allow South Carolina's 2024 congressional elections to proceed under the General Assembly's enacted plan and election calendar. | Application for stay denied on June 3, 2024. | |
| 23a1002 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's injunction and allow Louisiana to use its newly enacted congressional map for the 2024 elections. | Application for stay granted on May 15, 2024. Justices Sotomayor and Kagan would deny the application. Justice Jackson wrote a dissenting opinion. | |
| 23a994 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's injunction of the Louisiana Legislature's new redistricting plan. | Application for stay granted on May 15, 2024. Justices Sotomayor and Kagan would deny the application. Justice Jackson wrote a dissenting opinion. | |
| 23a858 | Whether the Supreme Court should grant 38 military chaplains interim injunctive relief against the Department of Defense's retaliation for religious accommodation requests for excusal from the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. | Application for writ of injunction denied by Chief Justice Roberts on April 30, 2024. | |
| 23a925 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit's judgment allowing Texas to enforce the age verification requirements of H.B. 1181 on commercial websites that contain sexual content. | Application for stay denied on April 30, 2024. | |
| 23a763 | Whether a district court may facially enjoin a state law, here Idaho's Vulnerable Child Protection Act, and prohibit its enforcement against non-parties. | Application for stay granted on April 15, 2024. Justice Gorsuch wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Barrett. Justice Kagan would deny the application. Justice Jackson wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Sotomayor. | |
| 23a870 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit's stay of the district court's decision to enjoin a discretionary provision of the rifle/shotgun licensing scheme for New York City. | Application to vacate stay denied on April 4, 2024. | |
| 23a862 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington's injunction of the enacted map and mandated use of its own remedial map for Legislative District 15. | Application for stay of injunction denied on April 2, 2024 | |
| 23a814 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit's stay and enjoin the enforcement of Texas Senate Bill 4, which would regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens without observing federal law governing removal. | Application to vacate stay of preliminary injunction denied on March 19, 2024. Justice Barrett wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Kavanaugh. Justice Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Jackson. Justice Kagan wrote a dissenting opinion. | |
| 23a815 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the stay issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reinstating Texas Senate Bill 4. | Application for vacatur of stay denied on March 19, 2024. Justice Barrett wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Kavanaugh. Justice Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Jackson. Justice Kagan wrote a dissenting opinion. | |
| 23a843 | Whether Peter Navarro has met his burden to establish entitlement to release pending appeal under the Bail Reform Act. | Application for release pending appeal denied on March 18, 2024. | |
| 23a820 | (1) Whether public university administrators violate the First Amendment when they ban student expression from campus simply because it offends others, as several circuits have recognized in similar cases; and (2) whether the courts below erred in not enjoining a viewpoint-based prior restraint on an entire category of protected stage performances. | Application for injunction denied on March 15, 2024. | |
| 23a745 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's order for the district court to proceed with former President Donald Trump's criminal trial. | Application for stay dismissed as moot on Feb. 28, 2024. | |
| 23a741 | Whether the court should stay the bankruptcy plan issued by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware because it requires non-consensual, non-debtor third-party releases of claims for sexual abuse against the Boy Scouts of America. | Application for stay denied on Feb. 22, 2024. | |
| 23a696 | Whether the Supreme Court should enjoin the U.S. Military Academy from using race as a factor in admissions decisions. | Application for injunction pending appeal denied on Feb. 2, 2024. | |
| 23a607 | Whether the Supreme Court should block an order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that generally bars federal Border Patrol agents from cutting or moving razor wire installed by Texas along a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. | Application to vacate injunction pending appeal granted on Jan. 22, 2024. Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh would deny the application. | |
| 23a641 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the injunction of the Western District of Michigan which enjoins the use of 13 legislative districts in future Michigan house and senate elections. | Application for stay denied on Jan. 22, 2024. | |
| 23a469 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho enjoining the enforcement of Idaho's Defense of Life Act, which prohibits abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother, on the ground that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act preempts it. | Application for stay granted on Jan. 5, 2024. | |
| 23a470 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho enjoining the enforcement of Idaho's Defense of Life Act, which prohibits abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother, on the ground that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act preempts it. | Application for stay granted on Jan. 5, 2024. | |
| 23a486 | (1) Whether the state of Illinois' absolute ban of certain handguns is constitutional in light of the holding in District of Columbia v. Heller that handgun bans are categorially unconstitutional; whether the "in common use" test announced in Heller is hopelessly circular and therefore unworkable; and (3) whether the government can ban the sale, purchase, and possession of certain semi-automatic firearms and firearm magazines, tens of millions of which are possessed by law-abiding Americans for lawful purposes, when there is no analogous historical ban as required by Heller and New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass"n, Inc. v. Bruen. | Application for a writ of injunction pending certiorari denied on Dec. 14, 2023. | |
| 23a521 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the stay by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit of an injunction that had prevented the use of the 5th Circuit's newly drawn electoral map for the election of commissioners in Galveston County, Texas, and reinstated the previously used map. | Application to vacate stay of injunction denied on Dec. 12, 2023. Justice Kagan wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson. | |
| 23a449 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the stay by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit of the district court's injunction of the district map drawn by commissioners of Galveston County, Texas, because the map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. | Application to vacate stay dismissed as moot on Dec. 1, 2023 | |
| 23a452 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona's order that requires Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Ben Toma and President of the Arizona Senate Warren Petersen to be deposed about their personal motives for voting to enact two state voting laws, H.B. 2243 and H.B. 2492. | Application for stay denied on Nov. 27, 2023. | |
| 23a417 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana's order denying qualified immunity and finding a lack of probable cause to effectuate an arrest made under the authority of a valid arrest warrant. | Application for stay denied by Justice Alito on Nov. 22, 2023. | |
| 23a366 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's preliminary injunction enjoining Florida's Protection of Children Act. | Application for stay denied on Nov. 16, 2023. Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch would grant the application. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a statement respecting the denial of the application, joined by Justice Barrett except as to footnote 1. | |
| 23a364 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the commencement of the Nov. 27 trial so that BP America Production, Hilcorp Energy, and Shell Oil may pursue a change of venue to a neutral forum. | Application for stay denied on Nov. 7, 2023. | |
| 23a315 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay Florida's 2021 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida allowing the tribe to conduct online sports gambling anywhere in the state as long as servers are located on tribal land. | Application for stay denied on Oct. 25, 2023. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a statement respecting the denial of the application. | |
| 23a243 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the injunction of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana restricting federal officials' and employees' speech concerning content moderation on social media platforms. | Application for stay granted on Oct. 20, 2023. Justice Alito wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch. | |
| 23a296 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's injunction of Missouri's Second Amendment Preservation Act. | Application for stay denied on Oct. 20, 2023. Justice Thomas would grant the application. Justice Gorsuch wrote a statement respecting the denial, joined by Justice Alito. | |
| 23a281 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the writ of mandamus entered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit cancelling a remedial hearing and granting an opportunity for the Louisiana Legislature to develop its own remedy for the likely vote dilution found by the district court in its voting map plan. | Application for stay denied on Oct. 19, 2023. Justice Jackson wrote a concurring opinion. | |
| 23a282 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the writ of mandamus entered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit cancelling a remedial hearing and granting an opportunity for the Louisiana Legislature to develop its own remedy for the likely vote dilution found by the district court in its voting map plan. | Application for stay denied on Oct. 19, 2023. Justice Jackson wrote a concurring opinion. | |
| 23a302 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the injunction entered on Sept. 14 by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas blocking the federal government from enforcing a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives rule regarding ghost guns against gun manufacturers Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed. | Application to vacate injunction granted on Oct. 16, 2023. |