On Tuesday, the justices heard argument in Bowe v. United States, involving a complex (and confusing) area of law: habeas, which allows people confined by the government to challenge the grounds for their detention.

Tuesday’s argument in Ellingburg v. United States turned on whether the ex post facto clause of the Constitution applies to the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. That clause bars imposing criminal punishments based on statutes not in force when the crime occurred. Because the MVRA was adopted after Holsey Ellingburg’s offense, it would violate the ex post facto clause to apply it to determine Ellingburg’s punishment if the restitution it requires is “criminal” under that clause.

Rights and Responsibilities is a recurring series by Richard Garnett on legal education, the role of the courts in our constitutional structure, and the law of religious freedom and free expression.

It is still (very) early in the Supreme Court’s new term, and its calendar is far from full. The justices and their law clerks will consider thousands more requests for review and, notwithstanding the recent trend of declining caseloads, will probably grant a few dozen more. That said, and unlike the last few years, it does not appear that the story of what court-watchers call October Term 2025 will feature landmark, lead-the-news religious-freedom controversies. In fact, so far, there is only one church-state case, Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, which is set for oral argument next month.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning turned down a plea from conservative media personality Alex Jones to hear his appeal of a Connecticut case brought by families of the children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than a decade ago, in which he was found liable for defamation and emotional distress. The court also rejected an appeal by several Colorado parents, who contend that a school district in that state violated their constitutional rights when they excluded them from discussions of their children’s gender identity.

The announcements came as part of a list of orders released by the Supreme Court from the justices’ private conference on Oct. 10. The court granted one new case, Hunter v. United States, from that conference on Friday afternoon; Tuesday’s order list did not add any additional cases to its oral argument calendar for the 2025-26 term.

Justice, Democracy, and Law is a recurring series by Edward B. Foley that focuses on election law and the relationship of law and democracy.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s new book, Listening to the Law, is an excellent read. I’ve strongly recommended it to my students and agree with Will Baude that it’s the best “single book” right now “to give to any lay person who wanted to understand the Court.” (I’m looking forward to reading Justice Anthony Kennedy’s book for comparison.)