Bonus 153: Hurtling Into June

The unusually chaotic month that the justices have in front of them raises questions about whether the Court should continue to be committed to what is, effectively, an October-to-June calendar.

Welcome back to the weekly bonus content for “One First.” Although Monday’s regular newsletter will remain free for as long as I’m able to do this, I put much of Thursday’s bonus content behind a paywall as an added incentive for those who are willing and able to support the work that goes into putting this newsletter together every week. (If you missed it, I talked a bit about the free/paid content division in this week’s episode of “First One.”) I’m grateful to those of you who are already paid subscribers, and I hope that those of you who aren’t will consider a paid subscription if and when your circumstances permit.

I’m hoping to write, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, about the Trump administration’s 17th(!!) application for emergency relief in the Supreme Court, this time in the D.V.D. immigration case out of Boston (re: how much process the government must provide before removing otherwise removable non-citizens to countries other than their country of origin).

But for this week’s bonus issue, I wanted to take a bit of a step back and look at where things stand with the Supreme Court more holistically—with the calendars set to turn over to June this weekend. For the modern Supreme Court, at least, June has often been the busiest month—with the justices hustling to clear the decks of all of the outstanding decisions in argued cases from the current term before decamping for the summer. Indeed, the idea that the Court is on what is effectively an October-to-June calendar has become an article of faith both inside and outside One First Street.

But this year has something extra: the unprecedented volume (and continuing flow) of high-profile, high-stakes emergency applications that are necessarily consuming resources all their own. Thus, below the fold, I take a stab at laying out exactly what the Court has ahead of it in the next 4.5 weeks—and why it’s shaping up to be an especially (if not unusually) chaotic June.

For those who are not paid subscribers, we’ll be back no later than Monday (and probably sooner) with our regular coverage of the Court. For those who are, please read on.