WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Monday, March 15

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. To suggest a piece for us to consider, email us at [email protected].

Here’s the Monday morning read:

• Supreme Court’s COVID-19 cases stir up battle between religion, same-sex couples over foster care (John Fritze, USA Today)
• Justice Breyer Should Retire Right Now (Paul Campos, The New York Times)
• The sweeping implications of the Supreme Court’s new union-busting case (Ian Millhiser, Vox)
• The Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act case could gut civil rights protections. Then what? (Isaac Cui, The Washington Post)

SCOTUS News

Justices release full April calendar for final argument session of term

The Supreme Court on Friday released the calendar for the justices’ April argument session. In contrast to the justices’ February and March argument sessions, each of which either featured or is scheduled to feature only six hours of argument after changes in position by the Biden administration led to cases being removed from the calendars, the justices will hear oral argument in 15 cases, for a total of 13 hours of argument. Highlights of the April calendar, which begins on April 19, include Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the case of a Pennsylvania student who was removed from her high school’s cheerleading team over offensive Snapchat messages, and Americans for Prosperity v. Becerra and Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra, a pair of challenges to a California policy that requires charities to disclose the names and addresses of their major donors.

The full set of cases scheduled for argument during the April argument session is as follows:

WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Friday, March 12

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. To suggest a piece for us to consider, email us at [email protected].

Here’s the Friday morning read:

• What Winning at the Supreme Court Means to Me — and to America (Chike Uzuegbunam, Newsweek)
• Our Lonely Chief Justice (Linda Greenhouse, The New York Times)
• Justice Amy Coney Barrett riles conservatives with moderate rulings (Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times)
• Arkansas’ New Abortion Ban Is a Direct Message to Amy Coney Barrett (Mark Joseph Stern, Slate)

UPCOMING EVENT

Yale Law School to hold panel on Supreme Court reform proposals

On Friday, March 12, at 12 p.m. EST, Yale Law School, Take Back the Court, and Yale’s chapter of the American Constitution Society will co-host the second panel of a two-part symposium titled “The Supreme Court in Crisis: Structural Reform for a Broken Institution,” focusing on some of the most-discussed options for Supreme Court reform. The panel will feature Michael Klarman of Harvard Law School, Ganesh Sitaraman of Vanderbilt Law School, Christopher Jon Sprigman of New York University School of Law, Laura Weinrib of Harvard Law School, and Melody Wang of Yale Law School. 

Registration information is available here.

SCOTUS News

Court nixes upcoming argument on Medicaid work requirements

The Supreme Court on Thursday called off an oral argument that had been scheduled for late March on the legality of Medicaid work requirements approved under former President Donald Trump.

The Biden administration, which is unwinding the controversial Medicaid policy, asked the court in February to scrap a pair of cases in which the justices had agreed to review the policy. Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that, in light of “greatly changed circumstances,” it no longer made sense for the court to take up the issue. She asked the justices to cancel the March 29 argument and instead vacate two decisions by a federal appeals court that the justices had agreed to review.