David Souter, retired Supreme Court justice, dies at 85

The court announced this morning that Retired Associate Justice David Souter died yesterday at his home in New Hampshire. He was 85 years old.

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

• Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter dies at 85 (Dan Mangan, CNBC)
• David H. Souter, Republican Justice Who Allied With Court’s Liberal Wing, Dies at 85 (Linda Greenhouse, The New York Times)
• Hegseth initiates ban on transgender troops after Supreme Court ruling (Alex Horton & Casey Parks, The Washington Post)
• The Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship case isn’t really about birthright citizenship (Ian Millhiser, Vox)
• A Way Out of SCOTUS Charter School Ruling Mess: Focus on Mission, Not Religion (Richard D. Kahlenberg, The 74)

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

• Called out by Trump for how he leads the Supreme Court, John Roberts is fine keeping a low profile (Maureen Groppe, USA Today)
• Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts Sends New Message to Trump (Anna Commander, Newsweek)
• One of the most controversial executive orders will shortly land at SCOTUS (The Economist)
• C-SPAN asks the Supreme Court to televise arguments for Trump’s birthright citizenship case (Amanda Friedman, Politico)
• The Universal Injunction Cases, Part 1: The Origins Debate (Samuel Bray, Divided Argument)

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

• Supreme Court Lets Trump Enforce Transgender Troop Ban as Cases Proceed (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
• In win for Trump, Supreme Court allows ban on transgender troops to take effect (Maureen Groppe, USA Today)
• Trump’s Deportees to El Salvador Are Now “Ghosts” in U.S. Courts (Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker)
• Shadow Docket Requests Threaten to Delay High Court Opinions (Lydia Wheeler & Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson, Bloomberg Law)
• Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know’ When Asked if He Must Uphold the Constitution (Jess Bravin, The Wall Street Journal)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a Department of Defense policy prohibiting transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. With the court’s three Democratic appointees indicating that they would have denied the Trump administration’s request, the justices paused an order by a federal judge in Washington state that had barred the government from implementing the policy anywhere in the United States. 

Shortly after taking office in 2021, then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allowed transgender troops to serve openly in the military. On Jan. 20 of this year, President Donald Trump revoked Biden’s order and issued another order requiring Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to put into effect a ban on “individuals with gender dysphoria” – the medical term for the psychological distress caused by a conflict between the sex someone is assigned at birth and that person’s gender identity. 

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

• Trump administration asks judge to toss suit restricting access to abortion medication (Lindsay Whitehurst & Rebecca Boone, The Associated Press)
• Trump to continue Biden’s court defense of abortion drug mifepristone (Daniel Wiessner, Reuters)
• What the Constitution, Supreme Court say about ‘due process’ for Trump deportees (Devin Dwyer, ABC News)
• An anti-trans lawmaker brings a Supreme Court case that she absolutely must win (Ian Millhiser, Vox)
• Trump’s Justice Department Is Squandering Its Biggest Asset (Ankush Khardori, Politico)