The 2026-27 term doesn’t officially start until Monday, but the Supreme Court was busy this week adding cases to the oral argument docket, addressing emergency applications, and announcing a significant last-minute recusal. Keep reading to catch up on all the latest SCOTUS news.
At the Court This Week
On Thursday, the Supreme Court added three new cases to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term, including a case on the Trump administration’s policy of detaining noncitizens apprehended within the United States (as opposed to at the border) without the opportunity for a bond hearing and a dispute over the enforcement of zoning ordinances against religious institutions. For more on the new cases, see the On Site section below.
On Wednesday, the court cleared the way for Tennessee to execute Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, over a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Tennessee attempted to carry out the execution, but Pike survived and the execution was stopped. Gov. Bill Lee has halted the remaining execution scheduled to take place in Tennessee this year.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to allow, for now, rapid deportations to third-party countries – that is, countries not identified in a removal order. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated that they would deny the request. The court also announced that it will hear argument on Dec. 9 on, among other things, the legality of third-country removals and whether the district court had the authority to put the removals on hold.
On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that Justice Samuel Alito will not continue to participate in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, a significant climate change case that will be argued on Monday.
Also on Monday, the Trump administration brought a dispute over the Federal Bureau of Prison’s policy on healthcare and accommodations for transgender inmates to the interim docket. The court has asked the challengers to respond to this request by 4 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Looking ahead, the Supreme Court’s 2026-27 term will officially kick off on Monday. The justices will hear argument that morning in two cases: Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, on whether a lawsuit filed in Colorado state court seeking to hold energy companies responsible for their alleged role in climate change can go forward, or whether federal law instead bars such claims; and Johnson v. United States Congress, on whether a federal district court may hear a constitutional challenge to a law limiting disability benefits for certain incarcerated veterans.
Morning Reads
What Trump Has Built
Eric Cortellessa, Time
In an interview with Time magazine about his presidency, President Donald Trump repeated his past criticism of the three justices he appointed to the Supreme Court – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett – saying he regretted nominating them. “I gave them the position of a lifetime,” Trump said, “and they voted against me often.” The justices appointed by Democrats, he continued, “stick like glue—those three, they virtually never vary. You can come up with the worst thing in the world and they’ll vote as a group.” But Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett had “the chance of a lifetime, and it’s unfortunate what they did.”
‘I am haunted’: Tennessee grapples with questions after another botched execution
Mark Berman, Brady Dennis, and Katie Mettler, The Washington Post
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Christa Pike to be executed in Tennessee, but the execution was halted when she remained alive after “officials tried to inject two doses of lethal drugs.” Her attorneys said on Thursday afternoon that she was “in critical condition and was ‘receiving lifesaving medical care,’” according to The Washington Post. “Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) [has] halted executions in the state and ordered an investigation into the incident, saying he was ‘highly disappointed’ by what happened.” “Pike’s attorneys said they have not been able to see her or speak with her since she was hospitalized, and they were hesitant to speculate on what exactly happened during the lethal injection.”
Election officials expect little impact from database Supreme Court revived
Bart Jansen, USA Today
On Sept. 25, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to use a modified centralized database to verify voters’ citizenship. However, “[e]lection officials in some of the largest counties nationwide” told USA Today that they don’t expect the decision to “have a big impact on the Nov. 3 midterm elections,” because “it came too close to Election Day.” They also noted that, in their limited experiences using the database, they’ve realized that the information it provides is sometimes outdated. “I think that the SAVE database can be used as a tool for the states but it must be used responsibly,” said Eric Fey, elections director in St. Louis County, Missouri.
Justices Give US Latitude to Frame Issues in Deportation Case
Jordan Fischer, Bloomberg Law
In the Supreme Court’s Tuesday order announcing that it will hear argument on third-country removals, there was an unusual entry in the list of questions to be briefed: “Such other questions that the Government determines are appropriate for the proper disposition of the case.” Two Supreme Court experts commented on this development during a Federalist Society event on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg Law. Georgetown Law Professor Stephanie Barclay said it “was a recognition by the court that the case was heading to arguments on an expedited posture and the justices might not yet have identified all of the relevant issues.” West Virginia Solicitor General Michael Williams added that the justices likely want to identify all those issues because “they want to be done with this” after considering the issue multiple time on the interim docket.
John Roberts and His Island
Jodi Kantor, The New York Times
Chief Justice John Roberts “has spent over 20 summers on Hupper Island” in Maine, “a refuge about 90 miles northeast of Portland with no cars and barely two dozen homes,” according to The New York Times. Most of these visits were “a story of potluck dinners and easy friendships,” but the backlash to recent, controversial Supreme Court rulings has transformed these getaways. “Neighbors have taken to the water to protest him. ... Even some longtime friends who would not dream of joining the kayakers said they have been drawing back socially because of their distress over his decisions.”
On Site This Week
Supreme Court to consider whether suit may go forward seeking to hold energy companies liable for climate change
By Amy Howe
The justices will hear arguments on Monday in one of the biggest cases currently on the Supreme Court’s docket – and certainly one of the most significant business cases of the 2026-27 term. In Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, the court will consider whether a lawsuit filed in a Colorado state court, seeking to hold energy companies responsible for their alleged role in climate change and its impact, can go forward, or whether federal law instead bars such claims.
Court agrees to hear arguments in important immigration case, religious zoning dispute
By Amy Howe & Kelsey Dallas
The court will hear oral arguments early next year in cases involving the enforcement of zoning ordinances against religious institutions, the Trump administration’s policy of detaining undocumented immigrants apprehended within the United States without a hearing, and the effect of a federal law intended to protect the former spouses of U.S. servicemembers.
Planes, beer, and forfeiture
By Julia D. Mahoney
In her Common Law column on Wednesday, Julia D. Mahoney explor