"In the week leading up to the October 2025 Supreme Court term, the impulse among court watchers will again be to do what we always do just before the first pitch on opening day: focus on a handful of high-octane merits cases as the frame for the court's upcoming session. Splay out the work product as if it speaks for itself; cover the sausage instead of how it gets made."
"This habitual stentorian announcement of what the high court will be deciding was once merely myopic, ignoring ethics violations and judicial behavior as it did. But as the court becomes the handmaiden of the Trump administration and the brickbat with which to cudgel lower courts and democracy itself into MAGA compliance, the start-of-term "curtain-raiser" has moved from distraction to collusion."
Court watchers habitually concentrate on a few high-profile merits cases at the start of each Supreme Court term, treating docketed work product as self-explanatory spectacle. That narrow focus covers outcomes instead of examining judicial ethics, behavior, or institutional legitimacy. The court's ultraconservative six-member majority has facilitated the erosion of federal agency independence, undermined district court judges, and weaponized the shadow docket to bypass constitutional constraints. Media and observers who frame the term around selected merits cases enable the court's claims to immutable legitimacy. A more illuminating approach is to ask whether a court adhering to precedents, transparency, and institutional humility would be entertaining most of these cases.
Read at Slate Magazine
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