Supreme Court of the United States

The Court granted the Government's application to stay the District Court's injunction pending appellate proceedings, concluding that the Government was likely to establish that the States lacked standing and that their claims were unripe.

The Court denied Jones’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Sotomayor, respecting that denial, explained that although the Court did not decide the issue, lower courts should consider whether a collateral-review or appeal waiver may be enforced when a defendant challenges the constitutional validity of the…

The Court held that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause.

Justice Sotomayor dissents from the Court’s denial of the petition for a writ of certiorari, arguing that the Seventh Circuit erred in granting qualified immunity to prison officials who locked Antonio Smith naked in a freezing cell for 23 hours.

The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito, dissented, arguing that the Second Circuit erred by treating a state vaccine mandate as an automatic undue‑hardship defense under Title VII and urging the Court to address the preemption conflict…

The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari in Dershowitz v. Cable News Network, Inc. Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, dissented, arguing that the Court should grant certiorari to reconsider the "actual malice" standard for public figures established in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.

The Court held that the federal election‑day statutes do not preempt Mississippi’s law permitting the counting of absentee ballots that are postmarked by election day but received up to five days later, because the statutes regulate only the timing of voting, not the receipt of ballots.

The Supreme Court held that the FTC’s statutory for‑cause removal protection for its commissioners violates the Constitution’s separation of powers, overturning the district court’s injunction and remanding the case.

The Supreme Court denied the Government’s application for a stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction, holding that the President failed to provide the statutory notice and hearing required before removing a Federal Reserve Governor.

The Court held that police officers conducted a Fourth Amendment search when they obtained Okello Chatrie's cell‑phone Location History data via a geofence warrant, because individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such information.

The Court held that the TPS statutory bar on judicial review bars all non‑constitutional claims challenging the termination of TPS for Syria and Haiti, and that the plaintiffs' equal‑protection claim is unlikely to succeed, so the district courts' interim relief is reversed and the cases are remanded.

The Court held that an alien standing in Mexico does not "arrive in the United States" for purposes of §§1158(a)(1) and 1225(a)(1) of the INA, so the statutes do not require inspection or asylum eligibility until the alien actually crosses the border.

The Supreme Court held that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) expressly preempts John Durnell's state‑law failure‑to‑warn claim because the claim would require Monsanto to add a cancer warning to Roundup's label, which is "in addition to or different from" the EPA‑approved federal label.

The Court held that under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause the proper measure of just compensation for a tax‑sale foreclosure is the auction sale price, not the property's hypothetical fair market value, and that the Eighth Amendment Excessive Fines Clause does not require compensation beyond the surplus proceeds.

The Court held that a Spending Clause statute such as RLUIPA cannot impose liability on individual state employees in their personal capacities unless those individuals have voluntarily and knowingly consented to such liability.

The Court held that the Helms‑Burton Act expressly abrogates the foreign sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities, so plaintiffs suing under the Act need not satisfy any FSIA exception. Accordingly, the judgment of the D.C.

The Supreme Court held that the Immigration and Nationality Act does not require a border officer to have clear‑and‑convincing evidence that a lawful permanent resident has committed a crime involving moral turpitude before deeming the resident an applicant for admission.

Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented from the Supreme Court's denial of a petition for writ of certiorari in United States v. Carter. The dissent argues that the D.C.

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissents from the denial of certiorari, arguing that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals erred in refusing to allow a merits hearing on Victor Saldaño's Atkins intellectual disability claim, which could bar his execution under the Eighth Amendment.

The Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit, holding that the federal habeas court erred in granting relief because Missouri v. Seibert does not require a trial judge to instruct a jury on attenuation, and thus the state court's decision was not contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established…

The Supreme Court held that the federal unlawful‑user provision of 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(3), as applied to Ali Hemani’s marijuana use, violates the Second Amendment. The Court applied the Bruen historical‑tradition test and found the government’s analogies to historic habitual‑drunkard laws deficient.

The Supreme Court held that an appeal waiver is unenforceable when enforcing it would result in a miscarriage of justice, and it vacated the Fifth Circuit’s dismissal of Hunter’s appeal, remanding for application of that standard.

Justice Alito dissents from the Court's denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari. He argues that the lower court's choice between the Tinker and Hazelwood standards is pivotal and that the Court should clarify how Hazelwood relates to recent government‑speech decisions.

Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, dissents from the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari in Alabama v. Powell. He argues that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals erred by treating the prosecutor's closing‑argument comment as an impermissible reference to the defendant's silence, contrary to United States v.

The Supreme Court held that the Fifth Circuit’s narrow two‑factor test for determining whether a bankruptcy‑schedule omission was inadvertent or a mistake in a judicial‑estoppel analysis is erroneous; courts must consider the totality of the circumstances. The judgment was vacated and the case remanded.

The Supreme Court held that a defendant charged under 18 U.S.C. §1519 must be tried in the district where the falsification of the document occurred, not where the related federal investigation was located, and rejected the Ninth Circuit’s view that the statute’s intent element creates a separate venue basis.

The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Sotomayor, in a separate statement, criticized the Mississippi Supreme Court's prejudice standard for Batson-related ineffective‑assistance claims, arguing that Batson violations are structural errors that should not require showing a different…

The Supreme Court granted a stay of the Northern District of Alabama's injunction that had blocked the State's 2023 congressional redistricting plan. The Court found that the State showed a likelihood of success on both the Voting Rights Act and Fourteenth Amendment claims, demonstrated irreparable harm, and that…

The Supreme Court vacated the Eleventh Circuit’s judgment because the circuit improperly considered post‑trial DNA evidence when evaluating whether the false testimony about the informant’s criminal record was material to the jury’s verdict.

The Court held that a sentencing disparity created by Congress’s non‑retroactive amendment to 18 U.S.C. §924(c) is not an “extraordinary and compelling” reason that warrants a reduction of a prison term under 18 U.S.C. §3582(c)(1)(A)(i).

The Supreme Court held that the Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably applied Batson precedent by concluding that Terry Pitchford waived his right to present a step‑three pretext argument, and therefore reversed the Fifth Circuit’s judgment, granting federal habeas relief and remanding for further proceedings.

The Supreme Court held that a prisoner who challenges the validity of his conviction must use 28 U.S.C. §2255, not the compassionate‑release statute 18 U.S.C. §3582(c)(1)(A); therefore, claims that a conviction is invalid are not “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for compassionate release.

Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Alito, dissents from the Court's denial of Florida's motion for leave to file a complaint against Washington and California. The dissent argues that the Supreme Court has no discretion to refuse original jurisdiction over disputes between states and that Florida's claim meets the…

The Supreme Court granted certiorari, reversed the Fourth Circuit because it violated the party‑presentation principle by deciding an issue the parties had not raised, and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The Court held that ERISA §§ 1391 and 1393 do not require actuarial assumptions used to calculate withdrawal liability to be selected on or before the measurement date, affirming the D.C. Circuit’s judgment.

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition for a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted, declining to resolve the question of how courts should evaluate the cumulative effect of multiple IQ scores under Atkins.

The Supreme Court held that a federal court that previously stayed a case under §3 of the Federal Arbitration Act retains jurisdiction to confirm or vacate the resulting arbitral award under §§9 and 10, even when those motions lack an independent jurisdictional basis. The Court affirmed the Second Circuit.

In a dissent, Justices Thomas and Alito argue that the manufacturers of mifepristone have failed to demonstrate the irreparable injury required for a stay of the Fifth Circuit's order, and that granting a stay would protect unlawful conduct.

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissents from the Court's order vacating the district court's injunction against Alabama's 2023 redistricting plan and remanding the case.

Justice Alito, joined by Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, concurs in the Court's grant of the application to issue the certified judgment immediately, arguing that the 32‑day Rule 45.3 default may be departed from when there is no intent to seek rehearing and prompt action is needed for the upcoming election.