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  This is wild: The Trump administration has provoked so many immigration habeas petitions, and has lost so many lawyers, that the Western District of Washington (Seattle, Tacoma, etc.) U.S. Attorney's Office can no longer *defend* the government in all of those cases, per this letter filed on 10/26:

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  Sure would be nice if Senate Republicans demanded the public release of the secret OLC opinion that Gaiser wrote authorizing the (deadly) boat strikes in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific before even *considering* whether he should receive a judicial commission. Alas, I'm not holding my breath. RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vgzwdyiwzdnfrga2xcvblvr4/post/3mzv7ztmjds2u

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  The point is not that Stephen Miller will have any more power or influence as formal Chief of Staff; it's that his elevation sends an unambiguous message to Democrats that conciliation ain't happening—sparing them from what otherwise could've devolved into a messy split over how to approach 2027–29.

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  It’s not just Talarico beating Paxton. It’s Abbott losing. It’s Dan Patrick losing. It’s Mayes Middleton losing. It’s Bo French losing. It’s every single statewide race in Texas—including four (of the nine) seats on the Texas Supreme Court. Holy. Shit.

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  #BREAKING: With no public dissents (and without even calling for a response), #SCOTUS *denies* the Trump administration’s emergency application in the California voter roll case.

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  #BREAKING: The day before Election Day, the Trump administration is asking #SCOTUS for emergency relief in the California dispute over whether there are any non-citizens on the voter rolls: georgetown.box.com/s/wlqjmsg0w5...

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  Watch this whole video. All the way to the end. RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lrlmw63dqlhqacs6pbu6ffzn/post/3my4gocauzs2x

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  There is a cottage industry on that other site of people in official government legal jobs affirmatively misstating or misrepresenting what rulings are about and then expressing surprise that anyone could possibly disagree. Just the latest example—from the Solicitor General of Iowa:

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  As promised, I wrote about what really bothers me about Tuesday's unsigned, unexplained #SCOTUS ruling clearing the way for the resumption of third-country removals with minimal (if any) process. Turns out, it's a lot: www.stevevladeck.com/p/254-four-t... 254. Four Things That (Really)...

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  After recapping yet another busy week of #SCOTUS news, today’s “One First” officially closes the book on the Court’s October 2025 Term with some final (and pretty mind-boggling) data about just how busy—and just how ideologically charged and divided—the emergency docket was: 255. Closing the Book on OT202...

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  The First Amendment wasn’t actually “first.” The original First Amendment was meant to ensure that the House of Representatives grew in loose proportion to the country. Instead, the House’s size hasn’t changed since 1911. Today’s “One First” on that history—and the problems a capped House creates: Bonus 256: The Original “First...

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  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Alone RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:oye4xbhmn75wccbhntxuqmuo/post/3mxfpwj7xck22

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  “The fact that we as a society have moved away from public executions would have mattered a lot for that earlier doctrinal understanding. That it wouldn’t mean nearly so much today is, in my view, a pretty telling indictment of #SCOTUS’s entirely recent jurisprudential shift.” Me on Nidal Hasan: 257. Public Executions and the...

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  “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3mrams5s2k72x

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  Justice Alito devotes an entire chapter of his new book to the emergency docket—and to responding to people like me (“the most prolific academic critic of the emergency docket”). As I explain over at “One First,” it … didn’t go well: www.stevevladeck.com/p/256-so-une...

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  #BREAKING: Over dissents from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the third-country removals case; clears way for Trump admin. to continue removing non-citizens without a full chance to litigate the conditions in those countries (while also taking up the full merits appeal).

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  I'm thrilled to share that my new book about #SCOTUS, "The Court We Need: What's Really Wrong With the Supreme Court—and How to Fix It," is now available for pre-orders: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/812983... The book is set to be published by @vikingbooks.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy on May 4, 2027. The Court We Need by Stephen V...

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  #BREAKING: #SCOTUS once again freezes the lower federal courts’ rulings in the Missouri redistricting case—and affirms that, as the Missouri Supreme Court held earlier this month, Missouri will use the 2022 map in the November elections. There were no public dissents.

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  #BREAKING: In non-Missouri emergency docket news, #SCOTUS *grants* the Trump administration's request for a stay in the SAVE case, allowing DHS to have access to certain Social Security information. The three Democratic appointees dissent.

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  The Eighth Circuit has ordered the district court to reinstate Missouri’s 2025 congressional map. But before folks freak out, it also ordered that court to pause such a ruling for long enough that the challengers can (and will) seek further review from #SCOTUS: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

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  #BREAKING: Over public dissents from Justices Thomas and Alito, #SCOTUS *denies* the Trump administration’s request for a stay in the mail-in ballots case. The USPS Rule will remain blocked—almost certainly through the midterms.

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  #BREAKING: Over *no* public dissents, #SCOTUS *stays* the federal district court’s TRO in the Missouri redistricting case, effectively restoring the Missouri Supreme Court ruling from last week (and the 2022 map that it requires the state to use in November).

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  As expected, DOJ is appealing Judge Talwani's TRO to the First Circuit, and will (almost certainly) go to #SCOTUS if/when the court of appeals refuses to stay it pending appeal. TL;DR: Mail-in ballots will be back before the justices by as early as the middle of next week... RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nwnlnixtjh3qhkwpz2uy5uwv/post/3mu4agkrj5s2t

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  #BREAKING: In the League of Women Voters case, Judge Talwani (D. Mass.) has issued a temporary restraining order freezing the USPS Final Rule on mail-in ballots from going into effect for 14 days (while the parties litigate whether she should enter a preliminary injunction blocking it indefinitely).

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  On Tuesday, the full Fifth Circuit granted DOJ's request for a "precedential stay" of district court rulings holding that the Due Process Clause requires bond hearings for immigration detainees w/in 90 days of their arrest. Today's "One First" explains why that's a really big (and problematic) deal: Bonus 239: The Fifth Circuit's...

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  I don’t mind at all that there are people who don’t get that this is a quote from “Animal House.” But the assumption that I must be an idiot who doesn’t know anything (and the confident replies to that effect) is everything that is wrong with social media. RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nwnlnixtjh3qhkwpz2uy5uwv/post/3mramvvdstc2n

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  A&M may be generating most of the anti-academic freedom headlines, but this is a pretty bleak sign of how things are going at my old employer, too: www.statesman.com/news/educati... UT border surveillance scholar...

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  I've been teaching my National Security Law students about the "Alien Terrorist Removal Court" for 20 years. Now that the Trump administration is using it for the first time (ever), today's "One First" looks at what it actually *does,* why it exists, and where we should (and shouldn't) be concerned: 239. The Alien Terrorist Remov...

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  I just posted my draft of this year’s Harvard Law Review #SCOTUS Foreword—“The Court Against the Courts.” It analyzes the challenges, obstacles, and threats district courts have faced in cases involving the Trump administration—and documents how & why the Court bears responsibility for much of it: The Supreme Court, October 202...

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  Really excited to share that I’m writing the Foreword to the Harvard Law Review’s annual #SCOTUS issue this November (covering the October 2025 Term and … other recent developments)—and that I’ll be sharing details about the piece’s contents (and a link to the draft) in tomorrow’s “One First.” One First | Steve Vladeck | Su...