Overview

• Arguments are set on key cases: Trump’s tariff authority under IEEPA on Nov. 5, presidential removal power in December using the FTC case as the vehicle, and Louisiana’s redistricting re-argument on Oct. 15, with a transgender-athlete case from West Virginia slated for December and a birthright-citizenship appeal expected later in the term.
• The White House touts 21 emergency‑docket wins, with the court allowing actions such as agency firings and a $783 million cut to NIH research to take effect pending review.
• Lower courts have ruled against sweeping unilateral tariffs and blocked limits on birthright citizenship, but the Supreme Court’s merits decisions this term could either cement or undo those policies.
• Conservatives have often granted the administration interim relief on removals, including permitting the firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, though the court declined to let Trump oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook before hearing her case in January.
• Criticism of terse emergency orders has intensified, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson decrying “Calvinball” jurisprudence, and legal experts cautioning that provisional wins may not hold once the court issues reasoned rulings.