Steve Vladeck

I'm going to continue posting to this site, but not engaging. It's just not worth the steady stream of toxicity and venom. I'll be much more active over where the sky is blue (stevevladeck), and, of course, through my newsletter (stevevladeck.com). Hope to see you there.

Context: It's a 4-4 ruling (with Justice Barrett recused), which means that the lower-court ruling is affirmed *without* a precedential opinion: supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf… It's as if #SCOTUS had never taken up the issue in the first place.

Today’s bonus issue of “One First” takes a closer look at Judge Ho’s concurring opinion on remand in the A.A.R.P. Alien Enemies Act case—which accused #SCOTUS of showing “disrespect” to the district judge and President Trump by … protecting due process: stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-152-ju…

#SCOTUS’s handling of emergency applications has its roots in the 1973 contretemps between Justices Douglas and Marshall in the Cambodia bombing case. Today’s “One First” takes a deep dive into how it was a harbinger for much of what we’re seeing today: stevevladeck.com/p/168-the-camb…

With #SCOTUS under mounting criticism for not explaining rulings granting emergency relief to President Trump, today's bonus "One First" lays out the arguments for why the Court *shouldn't* have to explain itself—and explains why they fail to persuade: stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-167-th…

My quick take on Monday #SCOTUS ruling in the Dep't of Ed. downsizing case—and how the justices' inconsistent treatment of the student loan cases during the Biden administration illustrates in technicolor why the Court really needs to explain its rulings: stevevladeck.com/p/167-the-inco…

Today's "One First" looks at AG Bondi's letters to tech companies purporting to "irrevocably relinquish" their liability for violating the TikTok statute. Parliament repudiated such a royal "dispensing" power in 1689; it has no place in U.S. law, either: stevevladeck.com/p/165-tiktok-a…

Via "One First," me on how the birthright citizenship ruling's short-term significance depends on the answers to two procedural questions #SCOTUS didn't address, & how what's most alarming is the broader implication—the death of the legal process school: stevevladeck.com/p/162-what-doe…

Even among its recent grants of emergency relief to Pres. Trump, Monday’s #SCOTUS ruling in the third-country removal case stands out as especially problematic—not just for what it greenlights, but for the defiance of lower courts it necessarily condones: stevevladeck.com/p/161-the-cour…

Congress has gradually ceded (and presidents have taken) control over most exercises of the war powers. But this week’s bonus “One First” looks at the quiet but significant role that the Supreme Court has *also* played in that shift—and its consequences: stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-158-th…

Today's bonus "One First" looks at how well the Trump administration has fared on emergency applications it has filed at #SCOTUS—including why the Court has (likely) granted so many of them, and what it means for litigants and lower courts going forward: stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-157-wh…

"Although there’s no one theme that ties all five sets of stories together, the volume—and the sense of a Court that is stretched past its capacity—is perhaps the real takeaway." Today's "One First" on a very busy (and glitchy) week at #SCOTUS: stevevladeck.com/p/157-a-busy-a…

Via "One First," me on President Trump's "Presidential Memorandum" purporting to federalize 2000 California National Guard troops—and how the move is both a modest *and* dangerous legal & political escalation of what's going on in and around Los Angeles: stevevladeck.com/p/156-federali…

After accidentally sending out hundreds of e-mail notifications relating to next Monday’s Order List earlier this afternoon, #SCOTUS has apparently decided to just … post the whole list: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…

Trump's DOJ sued Texas yesterday in a single-judge division in a suit that took six hours to yield a judgment blocking a Texas law. If that sounds fishy (and beneath the dignity of the federal courts) to you, it’s because it is. Me in today’s “One First”: stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-155-th…

Wonder if I can put this on my faculty report…

We’re up to 97 cases in which district courts have blocked Trump policies—from 73 judges (appointed by seven presidents) in 25 districts across 10 circuits. Today’s “One First” looks at what critics of these rulings are leaving out of their narratives: stevevladeck.com/p/155-what-cri…

The Trump administration filed its 17th(!!) #SCOTUS emergency application in the “D.V.D.” third-country removals case. Even if the government has a colorable argument for relief, this “emergency” is almost entirely one of its own (disingenuous) making: stevevladeck.com/p/154-the-gove…

We're hurtling toward a crazy June at #SCOTUS — which tries to clear its decks by July 4. After summarizing everything the justices have ahead in the next month, today's bonus "One First" asks whether the Court's October-to-June calendar is still viable: stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-153-hu…

“If the unitary executive theory is subject to exceptions for contexts in which the practical consequences of eliminating an agency’s independence would be too extreme, then it’s not much of a theory.” Me via “One First” on #SCOTUS’s ruling in Wilcox: stevevladeck.com/p/153-living-b…

When can #SCOTUS rulings benefit non-parties; and when can lower-court rulings do the same? In light of last week's developments, today's "One First" looks at how the (clear) answer to the former ought to bear upon the (murkier) answer to the latter: stevevladeck.com/p/152-non-part…