US EditionNYT Publishes Secret Supreme Court Memos on Shadow Docket's Origins
The memos show justices split over emergency relief and institutional legitimacy as the court acted before lower courts ruled.
- The New York Times obtained confidential 2016 memos revealing the Supreme Court's internal debate over President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, offering rare insight into the court's secretive shadow docket process.
- Chief Justice John Roberts urged blocking the environmental initiative, citing the 'major questions doctrine' and arguing the plan was 'the most expensive regulation ever imposed on the power sector.'
- Internal correspondence shows liberal Justice Elena Kagen was 'not buying' the urgency of the stay, while conservative Justice Samuel Alito warned that failure to stop the president threatened the court's 'institutional legitimacy.'
- By a 5-to-4 vote, the Supreme Court halted the program without explanation, a decision legal scholars view as the birth of the modern shadow docket characterized by secrecy.
- Confidential papers are typically withheld until after a judge's death, meaning the 'public might not learn what happened, and why, for decades,' yet these documents now reveal how justices deliberate behind closed doors.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Jamestown Sun
Port: The North Dakota perspective on the Supreme Court's 'shadow docket' controversy
MINOT — While reading a recent New York Times article lambasting the U.S. Supreme Court over the so-called "shadow docket," I couldn't help but think that a North Dakota perspective was missing in the piece. The premise of the reporting is that the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, executed some sort of a vendetta against former President Barack Obama by issuing a brief and abrupt ruling blocking his Clean Power Plan, what the Ti…
MAJOR LEAK: New Supreme Court Leaks Further Damages Our Highest Court With Conservative Justices Squarely Targeted
And all the leaks go in one direction. The radical leftists on the Supreme Court are leaking to the treacherous New York Times to undermine and damage the conservative justices. For the cancerous left, nothing is sacred. Which justice is the traitor? The FBI should conduct the investigation and that justice should be thrown off the bench. Justice Roberts took no action after the Dobbs leak which put the lives of conservative justices in immediat…
The Supreme Court’s Shadow-Docket Secrets Have Been Spilled
The New York Times on Saturday published a series of Supreme Court internal memos that amount, in hindsight, to a major milestone in the decline of American democracy. The closely held memos show how the justices’ shadow docket—particularly their use of brief, unsigned decisions on cases before they’ve even reached the court—transformed from a simple administrative mechanism into a major roadblock for progressive governance.There are caveats, of…
Leaked memos reveal how Supreme Court steamrolled Obama climate plan in 2016 showdown – Democratic Accent
The Supreme Court’s emergency order blocking former President Barack Obama’s signature clean energy initiative in 2016 came after a series of leaked internal memos among the justices that revealed a fight along ideological lines about whether to intervene. The rare glimpse at the high court’s internal memos, obtained by the New York Times, showed Chief Justice John Roberts, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, urging the Supreme Cour…
Outrage Erupts After Supreme Court Suffers ANOTHER Major Leak
This is just unreal. Once again, the Supreme Court has suffered a major leak. This time, it was to the New York Times, who just published a series of leaked confidential, private memos from SCOTUS justices. See here: All 16 pages of confidential memos were expected to remain secret for decades to come, but The New York Times has published them. See the documents here. https://t.co/dUdr0iW30A — The New York Times (@nytimes) April 18, 2026 Now, m…
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