Supreme Court News
In-depth reporting and commentary on the Court’s rulings and their influence on law, politics, and society.
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breaking
SCOTUS to Hear Case on Trump Asylum Policy
The Supreme Court will consider President Donald Trump’s restrictions on asylum at the southern border. The Trump administration asked the high court to overturn an appeals court ruling that found his executive order restricting asylum applications was illegal. The restriction has remained in place during the litigation. The administration argues it can deny any asylum to… -
news
Alito Warns Congress Can ‘Turn Off the Lights’ at Supreme Court
Summary Justice Samuel Alito warned that Congress “can turn off the lights at the Supreme Court” through its control of the funding process. Alito spoke to Federalist Society members on Thursday, just more than a week after Democrats gained majorities in Congress and some members have issued subpoena threats to justices. “Congress can turn off… -
news
Conservative Justices Seem to Balk as Trump Admin Seeks Immigration Authority on Employers
Conservative justices seemed reluctant to grant the Trump administration sweeping authority to penalize employers importing immigrant workers. The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could have broader implications for the Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement agenda. While the administration argues that it can oversee all employer-related cases involving immigration, justices questioned the scope of… -
news
Supreme Court Hands Trump a Big Win on Border Wall
The Trump administration has the green light to continue building a border wall in the Big Bend region of Texas after a Supreme Court ruling Monday. Plaintiffs seeking to block construction of the wall argued that it threatened the landscape of Big Bend National Park, which historically did not have high rates of illegal immigration,… -
news
Supreme Court Orders New Look at Male Inmate’s Women’s Jail Case
The Supreme Court agreed to toss a lower court ruling in favor of a male inmate who identifies as a woman and wants to be housed in a women’s unit. On Monday, the high court sent the case back for reconsideration by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in light of recent rulings upholding… -
news
‘Retribution and Lawfare’: Democrats Eye Supreme Court Subpoenas and Probes
Leading Democrats have promised to investigate and issue subpoenas to Supreme Court justices, and they will be in a position to do just that when they assume the majority in Congress in January. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., expected to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, previously said he and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., expected… -
opinion
Winners and Losers From the 2026 Midterms
There’s no sugar-coating it: Republicans lost badly in the 2026 midterms, suffering stunning defeats in states once considered reliably red and seeing Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress. President Donald Trump encouraged Americans to vote like he was on the ballot, and many may have done so. Democratic socialists and a resurgent religious… -
news
Supreme Court Hears Contentious Arguments on Religious Freedom Fight Over Preschool Program
The Supreme Court could deliver another blow to Colorado in a religious liberty case over the state’s exclusion of a Catholic church from a “universal” preschool program. Justices heard oral arguments in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy on Tuesday. “This is not a zero-sum game. Letting families use universal preschool funding at Catholic schools… -
news
These Election Eve Court Fights Could Reshape the Midterm Vote
Lawsuits on the eve of Election Day are giving courts a brief time window to make influential decisions before final votes are cast. The Supreme Court on Monday denied a last-minute emergency appeal by the Justice Department to set aside more than 20,000 ballots of suspected noncitizens in California. Meanwhile, lower court judges are still… -
news
Supreme Court Rejects DOJ Petition to Intervene in California’s 20,000 ‘Likely’ Noncitizen Ballot Dispute
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration’s Justice Department to temporarily block the counting of more than 20,000 mail ballots from suspected noncitizens in California. Last month, the department demanded that California temporarily set aside the ballots for the midterm elections until the citizenship of registered voters could be verified. … -
news
Democrat-Run Cities Tried to Salvage a Biden Anti-Deportation Policy. SCOTUS Says No.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an application by three Democrat-run cities to restore a Biden-era rule that would postpone deportations of illegal aliens. The unsigned order, in the case of City of Baltimore v. Texas, had no noted dissents and left in place lower court rulings denying the cities’ request for interim relief. At… -
opinion
Bringing a Knife to a Gun Fight: 5th Circuit Declares Switchblades Are ‘Arms’ Protected
Are knives—or at least certain types of bladed weapons—presumptively protected by the Second Amendment? That’s the question the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently answered in the affirmative. This dispute dates all the way back to 1958, when Congress, worried about juvenile delinquency in the aftermath of the then-scandalous movie “Rebel Without a Cause”… -
news
SCOTUS Has a Shot to Take a Major First Amendment, Free Press Case. Here’s What’s at Stake.
An investigative reporter is asking the Supreme Court to review a court order to identify the sources behind her reporting. In a case that could set a new precedent on the First Amendment, former Fox News and CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is appealing a lower court’s order to pay an $800-per-day contempt fee… -
opinion
Is Cooking for a Terrorist Organization Enough to Deny Immigration Benefits?
What constitutes “material support … to a terrorist organization” under federal law? That’s the question the Supreme Court of the United States will decide in Blanche v. Ozurumba. This matters because the Immigration and Nationality Act makes clear that those who provide such support to terrorist organizations are ineligible for asylum and other immigration benefits… -
opinion
Why George Washington Would Deport Mahmoud Khalil
Summary Mahmoud Khalil wants to take the case against his deportation all the way to the Supreme Court—and if the justices accept it, they will be deciding one of the oldest and most controversial questions in American politics, a dispute more than 200 years old. Khalil is not an American: He’s a Syrian-born Palestinian, but… -
news
8-1 Supreme Court Decision Upends Student ID Fight in Battleground Days Before Key Senate Election
The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, allowed New Hampshire to block student IDs as a valid form of voter identification. In an unsigned order released Thursday, the justices paused Oct. 2 and Oct. 5 orders by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante, a George W. Bush appointee, that prevented the state from enforcing its restrictions… -
opinion
What Justice Elena Kagan Gets Wrong About Democracy
Much of the Left seems intent on defining “democracy” as bureaucratic administration, but many of the changes to the bureaucracy they condemn actually empower the people. Take Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, for instance. She suggested that the majority decisions of her conservative colleagues are undermining American democracy, citing cases involving gerrymandering, money in politics,… -
breaking
Supreme Court Rules on Trump Admin Policy Blocking Sex-Rejecting Procedures for Prisoners
The Supreme Court Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s request to block a lower court order preventing the Bureau of Prisons from denying previously prescribed transgender procedures to prison inmates. The court denied the stay in an unsigned order, noting that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have granted the stay. The Bureau of Prisons… -
opinion
An Immigration Ruling With Teeth—If It Holds Up
Sometimes a consequential immigration decision turns not on a new act of Congress or a ruling by the Supreme Court, but on whether an agency finally gives existing statutory language its full effect. That is the promise of Matter of A-V-O-, a Sept. 17 ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The board concluded that… -
analysis
Will the Supreme Court Find Room at the Grotto?
On Oct. 1, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, Inc. v. Frederic and answer an important question: Does a regulation prohibiting a church from building a religious structure on its own property violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act? The answer is…