Supreme Court Explainer

Understand US Supreme Court decisions with the help of our AI legal assistant

Contains all cases from 2024-06-20 to 2025-12-08

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Recent Key Cases

Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens

2025-12-04

Disputed Texas congressional map allowed for 2026 elections as Court grants a stay of a lower court’s block, keeping the map in place while appeals proceed and affecting Texas voters.

voting mapsracial gerrymanderingelection rulescongressional redistrictingmidterm elections

Trump v. CASA, Inc.

2025-06-27

Federal courts may not issue sweeping universal injunctions; Court limits nationwide bans on enforcing executive orders and requires remedies be narrowed to protect only the suing parties, reducing blanket judicial relief against federal policies.

nationwide court ordersbirthright citizenshipexecutive ordersfederal court powerslegal remedies

Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton

2025-06-27

Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification on commercial pornography websites, applying intermediate scrutiny and allowing states to require ID or transactional data, affecting online porn sites and adult viewers.

online pornographyage verificationchildren's safetyfree speechstate regulation

United States v. Skrmetti

2025-06-18

Court upholds Tennessee law blocking puberty blockers and cross‑sex hormones for transgender minors, allowing states to limit gender‑affirming medical care for children while permitting those drugs for other medical uses.

transgender healthcareminors' medical carestate limits on healthcareLGBTQ rightsequal protection

Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services

2025-06-05

Ruling bars courts from imposing a tougher proof rule on majority-group job discrimination claims, vacating a lower judgment and making it easier for straight or majority-group employees to pursue Title VII claims.

workplace discriminationsexual orientationhiring and promotionsfederal employment law

Bondi v. Vanderstok

2025-03-26

Allows ATF to regulate some do-it-yourself gun kits and partially finished frames, reversing lower court and enabling federal rules to cover certain ghost-gun parts

ghost gunsfirearm partsATF regulationserial numbersbackground checks

All Cases

Doe v. Dynamic Physical Therapy, LLC

2025-12-08

Court blocks Louisiana emergency immunity from stopping federal lawsuits against healthcare providers, ruling states cannot shield providers from federal claims and sending the case back for further proceedings.

state immunity lawfederal civil claimshealthcare liabilitypublic health emergencies

Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens

2025-12-04

Disputed Texas congressional map allowed for 2026 elections as Court grants a stay of a lower court’s block, keeping the map in place while appeals proceed and affecting Texas voters.

voting mapsracial gerrymanderingelection rulescongressional redistrictingmidterm elections

Pitts v. Mississippi

2025-11-24

Court reverses Mississippi decision allowing a mandatory courtroom screen for a four-year-old witness, holding a statute cannot replace an individualized finding that screening is necessary to protect the child’s testimony.

child abuse trialscourtroom screensconfrontation rightstrial procedure

Beck v. United States

2025-11-24

Court denies review of a widow’s wrongful-death suit after her off-duty Air Force husband was killed by a government driver, leaving in place the rule that blocks many military-related tort claims.

military injury lawsuitsgovernment immunitywrongful deathcar accidents on military basesFederal Tort Claims Act

Hutson v. United States

2025-11-17

Declined review leaves lower-court order requiring New Orleans to build a jail for inmates with mental-health needs in place, keeping city and taxpayers responsible while legal questions remain unresolved.

prison constructionmental health in jailscourt-ordered remediesburden of proof

Veneno v. United States

2025-11-10

Court declines to reconsider the 1886 Kagama rule, denying review and leaving broad federal power over Native American tribes' internal affairs unchanged, despite a justice’s dissent urging correction.

tribal criminal justicefederal power over tribesNative American sovereigntyMajor Crimes Act

Trump v. Orr

2025-11-06

Court grants Government’s emergency stay allowing new passports to list sex assigned at birth, pausing a lower court’s order and affecting transgender people seeking new passports.

transgender rightspassports and IDsidentificationgovernment rules

Boyd v. Hamm

2025-10-24

Court denies stay and refuses review, allowing Alabama to proceed with a nitrogen-gas execution despite dissenters’ warnings about minutes of conscious suffocation and violent convulsions.

death penaltyexecution methodsnitrogen gas executionsprisoner rights

Crawford v. Mississippi

2025-10-15

Court denies a pause and refuses review of a death-row inmate’s claim that his lawyers wrongly conceded his guilt, leaving his execution scheduled tonight while questions about trial lawyer authority remain unresolved.

death penaltytrial lawyer misconductright to maintain innocenceretroactivity of court rulings

Thomas v. Humboldt Cty.

2025-10-14

A challenge over whether the Seventh Amendment applies to state civil cases is denied review, leaving varied state jury protections intact while a Justice urges the Court to revisit the old ruling.

civil jury trialsSeventh Amendmentstate vs federal rightsjury protections

Lee v. Poudre School Dist. R–1

2025-10-14

Court declines to hear parents’ challenge to school gender-transition policies, leaving the lower-court ruling in place and keeping current school notice and support practices unchanged for now.

school policyparental rightstransgender studentsstudent privacygender identity

Humphreys v. Emmons

2025-10-14

Denial of review leaves a death sentence in place despite a juror’s alleged lies during selection and coercive behavior, while questions about procedural review rules and juror-impeachment limits remain unresolved.

juror misconductdeath penaltyevidence rulesfederal appeals

Noem v. National TPS Alliance

2025-10-03

Court grants stay allowing Homeland Security to proceed with ending Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan nationals, postponing district-court relief and affecting hundreds of thousands while appeals continue.

immigrationtemporary protected statusVenezuelan migrantsdeportation risk

Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition

2025-09-26

Court temporarily allows the President to delay obligating $4 billion in expiring foreign aid, finding an impoundment law likely bars private suits and pausing payments while appeals proceed.

foreign aidpresidential spendingimpoundment rulescourt stays

Trump v. Slaughter

2025-09-22

Court allows the President to immediately remove an FTC commissioner by staying a lower-court order and agrees to decide whether laws limiting presidential firing power violate separation of powers.

presidential firing powerindependent agenciesseparation of powersFederal Trade Commission

Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo

2025-09-08

Court blocks lower-court ban and allows immigration agents to keep making Los Angeles-area street and workplace stops based on location, work, language, and appearance while appeals proceed, affecting workers and communities.

immigration enforcementpolice stopsracial or ethnic profilingworkplace raids

National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Assn.

2025-08-21

Court partly stays judge’s orders restoring NIH research grants, blocking immediate reinstatement of terminated grants while leaving the district court’s vacatur of agency guidance intact during appeals.

research fundingfederal grantsagency rulescourt authoritybiomedical research

NetChoice v. Fitch

2025-08-14

Emergency request to lift the pause on a Mississippi law is denied, keeping the lower-court block in place while a Justice says the law likely violates companies’ First Amendment rights.

free speechstate laws limiting speechemergency court rulingsstate enforcement of laws

Trump v. Boyle

2025-07-23

Order lets the President keep removing commissioners from the Consumer Product Safety Commission by granting an emergency stay, pausing a lower-court block and strengthening presidential control while appeals continue.

consumer safetyindependent agenciespresidential removalseparation of powersemergency stays

McMahon v. New York

2025-07-17

Order allows the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department of Education, staying a judge’s injunction and permitting mass firings and transfers while appeals and possible review continue.

education department closurefederal student aidschool funding delaysseparation of powersemergency stay