WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Tuesday, Nov. 26

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

• Tobacco Companies Rejected by Supreme Court on Warning Labels (Greg Stohr, Bloomberg)
• ‘We enjoy this sometimes’: The rhetorical battle between Justices Alito and Kagan at the Supreme Court (Joan Biskupic, CNN)
• Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Fresh Challenge to Agency Power (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
• Transgender lawyer makes history, takes case on puberty blockers and hormone therapy to Supreme Court (Maureen Groppe, USA Today)
• The man who helped roll back abortion rights now wants to ‘crush liberal dominance’ (Steve Inskeep & Obed Manuel, NPR)

RELIST WATCH

Nondelegation doctrine, abortion clinic protest, and transgender student athletes

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

It’s been two weeks since our last installment without any new grants. The Supreme Court cleared out some old relists in the last few order lists. The court denied review in Smith v. Stillie, the case challenging Alaska’s disclosure requirement statute for political contributions. The court also denied review of two cases challenging New York City’s rent-regulation laws, with Justice Neil Gorsuch noting that he would have granted the petitions.

It’s good the court has cleared out a bit, because there are eight new relists this week addressing three basic subjects. If any of the issues is granted, it would be a noteworthy addition to a fairly humdrum docket. If all are added, it will make the term significantly more interesting.

WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Friday, Nov. 22

Today is the first opinion day of the 2024-25 term. At 10 a.m. EST, the court expects to issue one or more opinions in argued cases from the current term. Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

• A 129-Year-Old San Francisco Lawsuit Could Stop Trump From Ending Birthright Citizenship (Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, KQED)
• President-elect set to shape ‘Trump judiciary’ for next generation (Carrie Johnson, NPR)
• From champagne to speeches, would-be Trump Supreme Court justices draw conservative buzz (John Fritze, CNN)
• The Final Five? Trump’s Next Potential Nominees to the Supreme Court (Adam Feldman, Empirical SCOTUS)
• Trump Tests the Constitution’s Limits (William A. Galston, The Wall Street Journal)

Petitions of the week

Western Apache group calls on court to block approval of copper mine on sacred site

The Petitions of the Week column highlights some of the cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

Federal law limits the government’s ability to place a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion. Yet as long as Congress does not intentionally discriminate against a particular faith, the Supreme Court has permitted the legislative branch to manage internal government operations — for example, by allowing private development on public lands — even when it affects religious worship. This week, we highlight petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, whether Congress can hand over part of a national forest in Arizona that is sacred to the San Carlos Apache Tribe to a private company seeking to mine the land for copper.

WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Thursday, Nov. 21

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

• Supreme Court rejects RFK Jr. group’s attempt to protect anti-Covid-vaccine doctors from investigations (Lawrence Hurley, NBC News)
• Revealed: trans rights case at US supreme court features doctors previously discredited by judges (Sam Levin , The Guardian) 
• The DOGE Plan to Reform Government (Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy, The Wall Street Journal)
• Musk, Ramaswamy vow ‘mass head-count reductions’ in U.S. government (Jeff Stein, Jacob Bogage, & Lisa Rein, The Washington Post)
• Supreme Court can keep government out of church (Jeremy Dys, The Washington Times))

Coming up: On Friday, Nov. 22, the court expects to issue its first opinion(s) from argued cases this term.