+ Final opinions of the term expected.

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The Daily Docket

The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

 

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. The U.S. Supreme Court will wrap up its current term and announce six remaining opinions this morning, including a decision on birthright citizenship. Plus, closing arguments will resume in the Diddy sex-trafficking trial; Retired SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy warned that “freedom is at risk”; and Trump’s lawyers quoted “Star Trek” in a letter to a judge. It’s Friday. Here’s a cool fact about orcas. Have a great weekend!

 

U.S. Supreme Court to issue final opinions of the term

 

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Today’s the last day of the current U.S. Supreme Court term and the court is expected to announce the remaining six opinions beginning at 10 a.m. ET. Here’s what’s left on the docket:
  • Birthright citizenship: This case involves President Trump's attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as he seeks a major shift in how the U.S. Constitution has long been understood. Read more about the oral arguments.
  • LGBTQ+ school books: The court appeared inclined to rule in favor of Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland seeking to keep their elementary school children out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read. Read more here.
  • Obamacare preventive care mandate: This case involves the legality of a provision of the Affordable Care Act that helps ensure that health insurers cover preventive care such as cancer screenings at no cost to patients. Read more about the oral arguments.
  • Online pornography: This case centers on whether a Texas law that requires pornographic websites to verify the age of users in an effort to restrict access to minors violates the First Amendment protections against government infringement of speech. Read more here.
  • Telecommunications services fund: The justices appeared sympathetic to the FCC’s defense of the mechanism it uses to fund a multi-billion dollar effort to expand phone and broadband internet access to low-income and rural Americans and other beneficiaries. Read more about the arguments.
  • Louisiana electoral map: The justices heard a bid by Louisiana officials and civil rights groups to preserve an electoral map that raised the number of Black-majority congressional districts in the state in a legal challenge by a group of voters who called themselves "non-African American." Read more about the oral arguments.
  • Scroll down to our Friday Rewind for more SCOTUS news from this week.
 

Coming up today

  • Closing arguments are due to resume in rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York. The judge is expected to provide jurors with legal instructions in the afternoon, and jury deliberations may begin.
  • Vance Boelter, the suspect accused of assassinating Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, will return to federal court in St. Paul for a preliminary and detention hearing, his second appearance before a federal judge.
  • U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in D.C. will hold a preliminary injunction hearing in a lawsuit from national security lawyer Mark Zaid accusing the Trump administration of “unconstitutional retaliation” for revoking his security clearance. Zaid had represented a government whistleblower in a case that led to President Trump’s impeachment during his first term.
  • Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist at Harvard University accused of smuggling frog embryos into the U.S., will be arraigned in Boston federal court. Petrova was indicted on Wednesday on additional charges nearly two weeks after her lawyers secured her release from U.S. custody.
  • U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego will hold a hearing on the Trump administration’s breach of a settlement agreement stemming from the ACLU’s 2018 family separation lawsuit. Earlier this month, Judge Sabraw ruled that the administration had breached the 2023 agreement.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

 

More top news

  • Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kennedy warns 'freedom is at risk'
  • DOJ to probe hiring practices at University of California
  • US House committee subpoenas Harvard over tuition costs
  • SEC, Ripple wants to settle crypto lawsuit, but US judge rebuffs them
  • US Senate Republicans seek agreement on Trump tax-cut, spending bill
 
 

Industry insight

  • A New York appeals court disbarred Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, following his 2023 guilty plea to a charge stemming from efforts to overturn Trump's defeat in Georgia.
  • A Republican-led U.S. Senate panel voted along party lines to advance President Trump's first five judicial nominees of his second term.
  • Partners at McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel voted to merge, effective August 1. Read more. 
  • Moves: Litigation partner Clayton Falls joined Holland & Knight from K&L Gates … Real estate partner Richard Heaton moved to Greenberg Traurig from Hines, where he was chief legal and compliance officer. 
 

"We are placed in the litigator’s Kobayashi Maru, compelled to choose between continuing to wait indefinitely for a decision or seeking a writ of mandamus from the Second Circuit—a remedy that is extraordinary and may foster ill will with this Court."