The Supreme Court on December 19, 2025, delivered the Trump administration its first significant defeat on the emergency “shadow docket” since April 2025, refusing to block a lower court ruling that allows immigration judges to proceed with their First Amendment lawsuit challenging a …
Supreme Court of the United StatesDonald TrumpNational Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ)Department of Justice4th Circuit Court of Appeals+3 moresupreme courtimmigration-judgesfirst amendmentfree speechshadow docket+5 more
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 26, 2024, that neither state nor individual plaintiffs established standing to enjoin federal officials over alleged coercion of social-media platforms. Justice Barrett’s majority opinion found plaintiffs failed to show government actions caused platforms to …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Amy Coney BarrettJustice Samuel AlitoJustice Clarence ThomasJustice Neil Gorsuch+2 morecourtssocial-mediastandingfirst-amendmentcontent-moderation+3 more
The Supreme Court unanimously held the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing to challenge FDA’s 2016/2021 actions on mifepristone, leaving the agency’s changes in place. Justice Kavanaugh delivered the opinion, with the Court finding that the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine failed to …
Supreme Court of the United StatesFood and Drug Administration (FDA)administrative-lawcourtsstandingsupreme-courtabortion-rights
The Supreme Court allowed Texas’s SB 4 immigration law to take effect pending further proceedings, before subsequent Fifth Circuit action. A 6-3 ruling temporarily permitted Texas to criminalize border crossings and allow state police to arrest and potentially deport migrants, creating a …
Supreme Court of the United StatesState of TexasBiden AdministrationJustice Samuel AlitoJustice Sonia Sotomayor+2 moreemergency-docketimmigrationstate-preemptionsupreme-courtjudicial-conflict
The Supreme Court held that Alabama’s congressional map likely violated §2 of the Voting Rights
Act and ordered a remedy adding a second majority-Black district. The ruling preserved the
Thornburg v. Gingles framework for vote-dilution claims, affecting redistricting nationally.
Supreme Court of the United StatesState of AlabamaDOJ Civil Rights Divisionsection-2section-2-vravoting-rights-actredistrictingracial-discrimination+4 more
The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in FTC v. Actavis that the Federal Trade Commission could bring antitrust challenges against “pay-for-delay” agreements where brand-name drug manufacturers pay generic competitors to delay bringing cheaper alternatives to market. The decision reversed lower …
Supreme Court of the United StatesFederal Trade CommissionSolvay PharmaceuticalsActavisWatson Pharmaceuticals+1 morepharmaceutical-industrypatent-abuseregulatory-captureantitrustsupreme-court+2 more
Justice Lewis Powell delivers 8-1 majority opinion in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York (447 U.S. 557), striking down New York ban on utility promotional advertising and establishing four-part “Central Hudson test” for commercial speech …
Lewis F. Powell Jr.Supreme Court of the United StatesCentral Hudson Gas & Electric CorporationNew York Public Service Commissioncommercial-speech-rightscentral-hudson-testcorporate-advertising-rightspowell-memo-implementationutility-regulation+1 more
Justice Lewis Powell delivers majority opinion in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (435 U.S. 765), establishing for first time that corporations have First Amendment speech rights to influence ballot initiatives and political campaigns. Powell’s 5-4 decision strikes down Massachusetts …
Lewis F. Powell Jr.Supreme Court of the United StatesFirst National Bank of BostonFrancis X. Bellotti (Massachusetts Attorney General)Corporate Interestscorporate-speech-rightsfirst-amendmentbellotti-decisionpowell-memo-implementationcampaign-finance+1 more
On February 27, 1939, the Supreme Court rules 6-2 in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corporation that workers who engage in sit-down strikes—occupying employer property—lose the protections of the National Labor Relations Act and can be lawfully discharged even when the employer has committed unfair …
Supreme Court of the United StatesNational Labor Relations BoardFansteel Metallurgical Corporationorganized laborcorporate employerslabor-rightssupreme-courtsit-down-strikeswagner-actunion-rights
On July 22, 1937, the U.S. Senate votes 70-22 to defeat President Franklin Roosevelt’s Judicial Procedures Reform Bill, rejecting his proposal to expand the Supreme Court by up to six additional justices and handing FDR his greatest legislative defeat. Three-quarters of senators voting to kill …
U.S. SenateFranklin D. RooseveltSenate Judiciary CommitteeJoseph RobinsonJohn Nance Garner+1 morejudicial-independencenew-dealsupreme-courtseparation-of-powerscongressional-opposition+1 more
On April 12, 1937, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation to uphold the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), reversing years of judicial hostility to federal labor regulation and fundamentally expanding Congress’s commerce …
Supreme Court of the United StatesCharles Evans HughesOwen RobertsFranklin D. RooseveltJones & Laughlin Steel Corporation+1 moresupreme-courtlabor-rightswagner-actconstitutional-lawnew-deal+1 more
On March 29, 1937, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish to uphold Washington State’s minimum wage law for women, explicitly overruling its 1923 Adkins v. Children’s Hospital precedent and marking the beginning of the “Constitutional Revolution of …
Supreme Court of the United StatesOwen RobertsCharles Evans HughesFranklin D. RooseveltElsie Parrishsupreme-courtminimum-wageconstitutional-lawnew-dealswitch-in-time+1 more
On February 5, 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announces the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill, requesting congressional authority to appoint up to six additional Supreme Court justices—one for each sitting justice over age 70—potentially expanding the Court from nine to fifteen members. Roosevelt …
Franklin D. RooseveltSupreme Court of the United StatesJohn Nance GarnerHatton SumnersSenate Judiciary Committee+1 morejudicial-capturenew-dealsupreme-courtseparation-of-powersconstitutional-crisis+1 more
On January 6, 1936, the Supreme Court decides United States v. Butler in a 6-3 ruling that invalidates the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), striking a devastating blow to Roosevelt’s New Deal farm recovery program just eight months after the Schechter Poultry “Black Monday” …
Supreme Court of the United StatesOwen J. RobertsHarlan Fiske StoneWilliam M. ButlerHoosac Mills Corporation+2 morejudicial-capturenew-dealcorporate-resistancesupreme-courtagricultural-policy+1 more
On May 27, 1935—a day Roosevelt administration officials dub “Black Monday”—the Supreme Court delivers three unanimous decisions against the New Deal, with the most devastating being Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, which invalidates the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), …
Supreme Court of the United StatesCharles Evans HughesBenjamin CardozoHarlan Fiske StoneFranklin D. Roosevelt+1 morejudicial-capturenew-dealcorporate-resistancesupreme-courtconstitutional-law+1 more
The Supreme Court upheld the Sedition Act convictions of five Russian Jewish immigrants who had distributed leaflets opposing U.S. military intervention against the Bolshevik Revolution. In a 7-2 decision, the majority found that criticizing American military policy and calling for a general strike …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Justice Louis BrandeisJacob Abramsfree-speechjudicial-captureprogressive-erasedition-actfirst-amendment
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Espionage Act conviction of Socialist Party Secretary Charles Schenck for distributing leaflets urging draft resistance. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. authored the opinion, creating the “clear and present danger” test for restricting speech …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Charles SchenckSocialist Party of Americajudicial-capturefree-speechworld-war-istate-repressionprogressive-era
The Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could issue injunctions against union organizing efforts at workplaces where employees had signed yellow-dog contracts, dramatically expanding the legal weapons available to employers. Justice Mahlon Pitney’s 6-3 majority opinion held that union …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice Mahlon PitneyUnited Mine Workers of AmericaHitchman Coal and Coke Companylabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-erayellow-dog-contractsinjunctions
The Supreme Court unanimously struck down a Louisville, Kentucky ordinance prohibiting Black residents from moving onto blocks where the majority of residents were white, and vice versa. While appearing to be a civil rights victory, the Court’s reasoning in Buchanan v. Warley rested entirely …
Supreme Court of the United StatesNAACPMoorfield StoreyLouisville, Kentuckyhousing-discriminationcivil-rightsprogressive-erajudicial-powersegregation
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld an Oregon law limiting women’s workdays to ten hours in Muller v. Oregon, creating a narrow exception to the anti-labor Lochner doctrine. Attorney Louis Brandeis filed a revolutionary 113-page brief containing only two pages of legal argument and over 100 …
Supreme Court of the United StatesLouis BrandeisCurt MullerOregon LegislatureNational Consumers Leaguelabor-rightsjudicial-captureprogressive-eragender-discriminationworking-conditions
The Supreme Court struck down Section 10 of the Erdman Act, which prohibited railroads engaged in interstate commerce from requiring workers to sign “yellow-dog contracts” - agreements not to join labor unions as a condition of employment. Justice John Marshall Harlan, who had dissented …
Supreme Court of the United StatesJustice John Marshall HarlanWilliam AdairLouisville and Nashville Railroadlabor-suppressionjudicial-captureprogressive-erayellow-dog-contractsrailroad-labor