The Supreme Court’s interim docket, also known as the emergency docket or the shadow docket, consists of applications seeking immediate action from the court. These cases are handled on an expedited basis with limited briefing and typically (though not always) no oral argument, and the court often resolves them in unsigned orders with little or no explanation (though there may be concurrences or dissents). This page shows significant applications that have been filed during the current term.
Capital cases can be found here
Federal Government Prevailed
Federal Government Unsuccessful
Decided applications (28)
| Docket | Case Page | Issue(s) | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24a1218 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay an appeals court mandate certifying petitioner's extradition to Ecuador to stand trial for a charge of sexual abuse. | Emergency application to recall and stay a district court order denied by Justice Sotomayor on July 15, 2025. | |
| 24a1203 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay a district court order requiring the government to reinstate Department of Education employees fired as part of a reduction in force. | Application for stay is granted on July 14, 2025. Justice Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson. | |
| 24a1269 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's preliminary injunction preventing Florida from enforcing SB 4-C, a law that criminalizes the entry into and presence within Florida of those who have illegally entered the United States. | Emergency application for stay pending appeal is denied on July 9, 2025. | |
| 24a1285 | Whether to stay the mandate issued by the King County Superior Court of Washington and affirmed by the Washington State Court of Appeals that requires John Does — four former and current Seattle police officers who attended President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021 — to refile their lawsuit regarding public record requests under their true names. | Emergency application for stay of mandate is denied by Justice Kagan on July 8, 2025. | |
| 24a1174 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's nationwide injunction barring the executive branch from formulating and implementing plans to initiate large-scale reductions of the federal workforce. | Application for stay is granted on July 8, 2025. Justice Sotomayor concurred in the grant of the stay. Justice Jackson dissented. | |
| 24a884 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district courts' nationwide preliminary injunctions on the Trump administration’s Jan. 20 executive order ending birthright citizenship except as to the individual plaintiffs and identified members of the organizational plaintiffs or states. | Application for partial stay granted | |
| 24a1153 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay a district court order preventing DHS from removing non-citizens to a country not specifically identified in their removal order unless DHS assesses any potential claims such persons may have under the Convention Against Torture. | Application for stay is granted on June 23, 2025. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson would deny the application. | |
| 24a1154 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay a circuit court's mandate associated with its judgment that 11 U.S.C. § 524 divests a bankruptcy court's authority. | Emergency application for stay is denied on June 9, 2025. | |
| 24a1122 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's orders permitting discovery of certain DOGE materials pursuant to FOIA. | Application for stay is granted on June 6, 2025. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson would deny the application. | |
| 24a1063 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's injunction blocking Department of Government Efficiency team members and affiliates from accessing Social Security Administration record systems. | Application for stay is granted on June 6, 2025. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson would deny the application. | |
| 24a1079 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's order holding that the Secretary of Homeland Security lacked authority to revoke the categorical grant of parole to 532,000 non-citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, without providing individualized, case-by-case consideration for each person. | Application for stay is granted on May 30, 2025. Justice Jackson filed a dissent, in which Justice Sotomayor joined. | |
| 24a1106 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's nationwide injunction barring the executive branch from formulating and implementing plans to initiate large-scale reductions of the federal workforce. | Application for stay is withdrawn. | |
| 24a966 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's orders reinstating Gwynne Wilcox and Cathy Harris to the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board. | Application for stay is granted on May 22, 2025. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson dissent. | |
| 24a1051 | Whether the Supreme Court should grant an injunction to restore Maine State Representative Laurel Libby's right to vote in the Maine House after she was censured for a social media post criticizing the state's policy of allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls sports. | Emergency application for injunction is granted on May 20, 2025. Justices Sotomayor and Jackson would have denied the injunction. | |
| 24a1059 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's order barring the Secretary of Homeland Security from terminating a portion of the Temporary Protected Status designations for Venezuelan nationals. | Application for stay is granted on May 19, 2025. Justice Jackson would deny the application. | |
| 24a1007 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the removal of a proposed class of Venezuelan men in immigration custody and preserve the status quo for individuals challenging their removal under the Alien Enemies Act in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. | Application for stay is granted on May 16, 2025. The judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is vacated and the case is remanded with instruction. Justice Kavanaugh filed a concurring opinion. Justice Alito filed a dissent, joined by Justice Thomas. | |
| 24a1030 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the district court's injunction blocking the Department of Defense from enforcing its policy which generally disqualifies from military service individuals who have gender dysphoria or have undergone medical interventions for gender dysphoria. | Application for stay is granted on May 6, 2025. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson would deny the application. | |
| 24a1031 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit's denial of Rachel Cherwitz and Nicole Daedone's mandamus petition to block the dissemination of stolen privileged corporate documents at their May 5 trial. | Emergency application for stay is denied on April 29, 2025. | |
| 24a989 | Whether the Supreme Court should grant an emergency stay of removal pending disposition of a forthcoming petition for writ of certiorari regarding Fabian Lagunas-Espinoza and his family, who fled cartel violence in Mexico. | Emergency application for stay of removal denied on April 17, 2025 | |
| 24a949 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s order to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States. | Emergency application to vacate injunction is granted in part and denied in part. The deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective. The rest of the district court’s order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. | |
| 24a852 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay Tahawwur Rana's extradition and surrender to India, where there are substantial grounds to believe he would be in danger of being subject to torture. | Emergency application for a certificate of appealability is denied on March 31, 2025. | |
| 24a931 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the district court's order blocking the Trump administration from summary removal under the Alien Enemies Act. | Application to vacate order is granted on April 7, 2025. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson dissenting. | |
| 24a910 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the district court's March 10 order which requires the government to immediately reinstate millions of dollars in federal grants that had been terminated. | Application to vacate order is granted on April 4, 2025. The chief justice would deny the application. Justice Kagan dissents. Justice Jackson dissents, joined by Justice Sotomayor. | |
| 24a921 | Whether the Supreme Court should issue an injunction to block New York"s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program Amendment, which permanently extinguishes the contracts of hundreds of businesses on April 1, as a violation of the takings and contracts clauses of the Constitution. | Emergency application for injunction is denied on March 31, 2025. | |
| 24a808 | Whether the Supreme Court should stay the lower court's judgment to prevent the expedited proceedings from going forward. | Emergency application for stay is denied on March 14, 2025. | |
| 24a790 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the temporary restraining order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia restoring Hampton Dellinger to office as head of the Office of Special Counsel from which the president had removed him. | Emergency application to vacate order is denied as moot. | |
| 24a831 | Whether the Supreme Court should vacate the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia's order requiring the executive branch to pay nearly $2 billion to nonprofits and businesses that receive federal foreign-assistance funding for reimbursements of contracts and grants for work completed before Feb. 13, 2025. | Application to vacate order is denied on March 5, 2025. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh joined. | |
| 24a348 | Whether the Supreme Court should preliminarily enjoin the National Labor Relations Board from proceeding with administrative hearings against YAPP. | Emergency application for injunction is denied on Oct. 15, 2024. |