Emergency Docket 2023-24
The Supreme Court’s emergency docket, also known as the shadow docket, consists of applications seeking immediate action from the court. Unlike the merits docket, these cases are handled on an expedited basis with limited briefing and no oral argument, and the court often resolves them in unsigned orders with little or no explanation. This page shows significant emergency applications that have been filed during the current term.
Applications involving the death penalty are shaded in gray. Applications involving all other topics are in white.
Decided applications are listed by decision date. View this list sorted by case name.
Pending applications
| Docket | Case Page | Issue(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 23A994 | Robinson v. Callais | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court’s injunction of the Louisiana legislature’s new redistricting plan. |
| 23A858 | Alvarado v. Austin | 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. |
| 23A851 | Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP | 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. |
Decided applications
| Docket | Case Page | Issue(s) | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23A925 | Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton | 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. | Emergency application for stay denied on April 30, 2024. |
| 23A763 | Labrador v. Poe | Whether a district court may facially enjoin a state law, here Idaho's Vulnerable Child Protection Act, and prohibit its enforcement against non-parties. | Emergency application for stay is granted on April 15, 2024. |
| 23A890 | Dorsey v. Vandergriff | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the execution of Brian Dorsey pending the resolution of his certiorari petition. | Emergency application for stay of execution is denied on April 9, 2024. |
| 23A876 | Dorsey v. Vandergriff | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the execution of Brian Dorsey. | Emergency application for stay of execution is denied on April 9, 2024. |
| 23A878 | Smith v. Quick | Whether Michael DeWayne Smith’s first degree murder convictions and sentence of death are unreliable and in violation of his constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial because false testimony was used to corroborate Smith’s confession. | Emergency application for stay of execution is denied on April 4, 2024. |
| 23A870 | Srour v. City of New York, New York | 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. | Emergency application to vacate stay denied on April 4, 2024. |
| 23A862 | Trevino v. Palmer | 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. | Emergency application for stay of injunction denied on April 2, 2024 |
| 23A815 | Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy v. McCraw | 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. | Emergency application for vacatur of stay is denied on March 19, 2024. |
| 23A814 | U.S. v. Texas | 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. | Emergency application to vacate stay of preliminary injunction is denied on March 19, 2024. |
| 23A843 | Navarro v. U.S. | 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 | Spectrum WT v. Wendler | (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. | Emergency application for injunction is denied on March 15, 2024. |
| 23A745 | Trump v. U.S. | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's order for the district court to proceed with former President Donald Trump's criminal trial. | Emergency application for stay is dismissed as moot on Feb. 28, 2024. |
| 23A761 | Creech v. Idaho | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the execution of Thomas Creech. | Emergency application for stay of execution is denied on Feb. 28, 2024. |
| 23A741 | Lujan Claimants v. Boy Scouts of America | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Feb. 22, 2024. |
| 23A696 | Students for Fair Admissions v. U.S. Military Academy West Point | Whether the Supreme Court should enjoin the U.S. Military Academy from using race as a factor in admissions decisions. | Emergency application for injunction pending appeal is denied on Feb. 2, 2024. |
| 23A607 | Department of Homeland Security v. Texas | 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. | Emergency application to vacate injunction pending appeal is granted on Jan. 22, 2024. |
| 23A641 | Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission v. Agee | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Jan. 22, 2024. |
| 23A470 | Idaho v. U.S. | 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. | Emergency application for stay granted on Jan. 5, 2024. |
| 23A469 | Moyle v. U.S. | 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. | Emergency application for stay is granted on Jan. 5, 2024. |
| 23A486 | National Association for Gun Rights v. City of Naperville, Illinois | (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. | Emergency application for a writ of injunction pending certiorari denied on December 14, 2023. |
| 23A521 | Petteway v. Galveston County, Texas | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the stay by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit of an injunction that had prevented the use of the Fifth Circuit’s newly drawn electoral map for the election of commissioners in Galveston County, Texas, and reinstated the previously used map. | Emergency application to vacate stay of injunction denied on December 12, 2023. |
| 23A449 | Petteway v. Galveston County, Texas | 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. | Emergency application to vacate stay dismissed as moot on December 1, 2023 |
| 23A452 | Toma v. U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Nov. 27, 2023. |
| 23A417 | Smith v. Rogers | 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. | Emergency application for stay denied on November 22, 2023. |
| 23A429 | McWhorter v. Alabama | Whether the court should stay of the execution of Casey McWhorter. | Emergency application for stay of execution denied on November 16, 2023. |
| 23A366 | Griffin v. HM Florida-ORL | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court’s preliminary injunction enjoining Florida’s Protection of Children Act. | Emergency application for stay denied on Nov. 16, 2023. |
| 23A402 | McWhorter v. Alabama | Whether the court should stay of the execution of Casey McWhorter. | Emergency application for stay of execution denied on November 16, 2023. |
| 23A440 | Renteria v. Lumpkin | Whether the court should stay of the execution of David Renteria. | Emergency application for stay of execution denied on November 16, 2023. |
| 23A364 | BP America Production Company v. Parish of Cameron, Louisiana | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Nov. 7, 2023. |
| 23A315 | West Flagler Associates v. Haaland | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Oct. 25, 2023. |
| 23A296 | Missouri v. U.S. | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court’s injunction of Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Oct. 20, 2023. |
| 23A243 | Murthy v. Missouri | 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. | Emergency application for stay is granted on Oct. 20, 2023. |
| 23A282 | Galmon v. Ardoin | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Oct. 19, 2023. |
| 23A281 | Robinson v. Ardoin | 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. | Emergency application for stay is denied on Oct. 19, 2023. |
| 23A302 | Garland v. Blackhawk Manufacturing Group | 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. | Emergency application to vacate injunction is granted on Oct. 16, 2023. |
