The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue emergency rulings in exceptional circumstances. Since 2017 however, the Court has dramatically expanded its use of the behind-the-scenes “shadow docket,” regularly making decisions that affect millions of Americans without public hearings and without explanation, with cryptic late-night rulings that leave lawyers—and citizens—struggling to understand them.
The Court’s conservative majority has used the shadow docket to approve restrictive voting laws and bans on abortion, and to curtail immigration and COVID vaccine mandates. Stephen Vladek, the author of our core book and a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law, makes the case that we, the public, should be concerned about what the increasing use of the shadow docket portends for the rule of law.
Week 1 Introduction: The Shadow Docket
The Rise of Certiorari: How the "Least Dangerous Branch" Came to Control Its Agenda
Week 2 Substance in Procedure: How the Court Decides Without Deciding
Week 3 The Machinery of Death: How Capital Punishment Gave Rise to the Modern Shadow Docket
Week 4 The Tenth Justice: How the Trump Administration Blew Up the Shadow Docket
Week 5 COVID and the Court: How the Court Abused the Shadow Docket to Expand Religious Liberty
Week 6 The "Purcell Principle": How the Current Court Uses the Shadow Docket to Help Republicans
Week 7 "Read the Opinion": How the Court's Abuse of the Shadow Docket Undermines Its Legitimacy
Conclusion: Bringing the Supreme Court Out of the Shadows
Vladek, Stephen, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, Basic Books, New York (2023). Available from Amazon (hardcover $18, Kindle $19) and Thriftbooks (trade paperback released 5/21/24 $16.50).