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Supreme Court

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Mainstream coverage this week focused on several Supreme Court‑adjacent fights: the Trump administration’s emergency appeals seeking to keep federalized National Guard deployments in cities (with courts ordering withdrawals and the administration asking SCOTUS to intervene), the Court’s scheduling of major transgender‑sports cases for January 2026 and the flurry of amicus briefs on Title IX and Equal Protection, a temporary SCOTUS stay of a lower court ruling that found Texas’s 2025 congressional map an intentional racial gerrymander, the DOJ’s brief urging the Court to strike down Hawaii’s post‑Bruen private‑property carry rule, and reporting that the Trump filing seeking Guard deployments contained factual errors as examined by the New York Times.

What mainstream pieces largely omitted were local demographic and enforcement contexts (for example, Brighton Park and Little Village are overwhelmingly Hispanic neighborhoods; Illinois has roughly 511,000 undocumented immigrants, mostly from Latin America), raw enforcement and safety data (CBP encounter deaths, recent spikes in vehicle attacks on ICE/CBP officers, Hawaii concealed‑carry/licensing trends, and rising gun‑death rates in Hawaii), and fuller detail on how courts (Ninth Circuit en banc scheduling, the specifics of injunctions) limit deployments. Opinion and independent analysis highlighted other angles mainstream outlets treated cursorily: calls from some liberal writers to recalibrate trans activism strategy and avoid tactical overreach; nuanced critiques disputing the blanket “omnipresent advantage” claim about trans athletes and urging sport‑specific evidence; and criticism that aggressive GOP mid‑decade gerrymanders have been strategically risky. Contrarian viewpoints worth noting include arguments that parts of the trans movement have alienated moderates, that both parties gerrymander (reducing the novelty of GOP complaints), and defenses of studying sex differences without labeling such research inherently sexist—perspectives that help explain why legal, political, and public‑opinion battles are unfolding as they are.

Summary generated: November 29, 2025 at 09:05 PM

Appeals court pauses ruling blocking Trump tariffs

A growing legal battle over former President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs has prompted major brands and importers to file suits and spurred government filings quantifying the stakes: DOJ says roughly $130 billion was collected under the IEEPA tariffs across about 301,000 importers and 34 million entry filings, while other analyses put total tariff revenue as high as $259 billion and estimate up to $168 billion could be owed in refunds. Customs and Border Protection has been fast‑tracking liquidation to Treasury — shortening the normal 314‑day window — which has raised refund concerns even as DOJ says liquidation won’t affect refund availability, and the administration could seek similar tariff measures under Sections 232 or 301 if IEEPA tariffs are struck down.

U.S. Trade Policy Donald Trump Trade Policy & Tariffs

Switzer, Navratilova join SCOTUS trans‑athlete brief

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Super Bowl–winning coach Barry Switzer and 31 Olympians, including Martina Navratilova and multiple gold medalists, signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold Idaho and West Virginia laws restricting transgender females from competing in women’s sports. A separate amicus from 130 congressional Democrats backs the trans athlete plaintiffs in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. BPJ, with oral arguments set for January 13 in Washington, D.C.

Transgenderism/Transexualism Supreme Court

Supreme Court hears GOP bid to end party spending caps

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The Supreme Court heard a GOP-backed challenge to federal limits on coordinated party expenditures — brought by then‑Senate candidate JD Vance, then‑Rep. Steve Chabot and the NRSC/NRCC — seeking to overturn 2023–24 cycle caps roughly $61,800–$123,000 for House races and $123,600–$3.7 million for Senate races. Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh signaled openness to striking the limits (with Kavanaugh warning that current rules have weakened parties relative to outside groups and Roberts calling the coordinated/direct distinction a “fiction”), while Sotomayor warned removal could enable corruption; during argument Thomas pressed Democratic lawyer Marc Elias on whether party payments are protected speech (Elias called such payments “symbolic speech” treated as contributions), the FEC under Trump agreed the limits should be struck, Roman Martinez was appointed to defend the law, and the Principal Deputy Solicitor General rejected the view that the caps were imposed solely to prevent corruption.

Campaign Finance Supreme Court U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court hears Alabama intellectual disability execution case

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing Alabama’s appeal to execute Joseph Clifton Smith, a death‑row inmate whom lower courts found intellectually disabled, with arguments beginning at 10 a.m. EST in Washington on Dec. 10, 2025. The case tests how courts should evaluate borderline IQ scores (Smith scored 72–78) and whether a “holistic” approach beyond IQ is required under prior Supreme Court precedents, with Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer backing the state’s position.

Supreme Court Death Penalty

PRRI poll: Most back birthright citizenship

The Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Survey, released Tuesday, finds about two-thirds of Americans support preserving the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship, including narrow majority support among white evangelical Protestants. The poll also reports only 3 in 10 back President Trump’s overall immigration agenda and puts approval of his immigration handling at 43%, with confidence in ICE lagging across most religious groups as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship.

Immigration Policy Public Opinion Polls Supreme Court

Supreme Court declines Llano County library case, leaving 5th Circuit ruling intact

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The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the Llano County library case, leaving a 5th Circuit ruling in place that allows local officials to remove books deemed objectionable from public libraries. Plaintiffs and librarian Carolyn Foote warned the denial will embolden wider removals — a reversal of a district judge’s order to restore titles such as Caste and They Called Themselves the K.K.K. — and the 5th Circuit’s opinion, which said “No one is banning” books, now carries precedential weight across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Supreme Court First Amendment and Libraries Library Book Bans

Supreme Court to hear Trump birthright-citizenship case in spring; New Hampshire class action at issue

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the spring and could issue a decision by early summer on the constitutionality of former President Trump’s birthright-citizenship order; the case originates in a New Hampshire class action in which a federal judge blocked the order for a class including all affected children, and lower courts have largely concluded the order violates or likely violates the 14th Amendment. The administration has also sought review of an appeals-court ruling that led to a nationwide injunction in suits brought by Democratic-led states, and the Court’s recent limits on nationwide injunctions left open that class actions and certain state suits can still have nationwide effect.

Immigration Policy Birthright Citizenship Immigration and Citizenship

Supreme Court weighs presidential removal power as Kavanaugh flags Federal Reserve independence

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The Supreme Court is hearing Trump v. Slaughter, a direct challenge to the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor precedent that could let presidents fire FTC commissioners at will — Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged overruling while liberal justices warned overturning the rule would destabilize independent agencies, and the Court allowed Rebecca Slaughter’s removal to stand pending review after lower courts ordered reinstatement. Justice Kavanaugh pressed the government on how its theory would preserve Federal Reserve independence, and the Court will separately consider President Trump’s effort to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook amid broader removals of Democratic agency officials this year.

Presidential Powers Supreme Court Presidential Removal Power