US Supreme Court - Ledford & Associates

The docket that cannot be named

May 6, 2026

It’s a question that most Supreme Court watchers are all-too-familiar with: What should we call the court’s expanded practice of ruling on cases in an unusually expedited fashion? We confronted this question a few months ago when organizing a panel on the topic. Available names abounded: the leading contenders are now shadow docket, emergency docket, and interim docket, but others in circulation include the equity, stay, lightning, non-merits, or irregular docket. Ever equanimous, we settled on: “The Docket That Shall Not Be Named.”

Magicians Penn & Teller file Supreme Court brief questioning use of 'investigative hypnosis'

April 28, 2026

Two of the world’s most famous magicians have filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that using "investigative hypnosis" to help a witness identify a man convicted of murder is nothing but an illusion.

Supreme Court sides with Cox Communications in copyright dispute over pirated music

March 30, 2026

The Supreme Court ruled that internet service provider Cox Communications cannot be held liable for copyright infringement by its subscribers in a closely watched dispute over pirated music.

The high court ruled unanimously in favor of Cox, finding that the company cannot be held liable for infringement that occurred on its network.

Supreme Court’s tariff decision still leaves a ‘mess’ for companies trying to grab refunds

March 27, 2026

In its 6-3 decision, the high court concluded that a broad category of Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act exceeded the president’s legal authority. Many companies that had sued for relief in the form of rebate checks cheered the ruling.

Judge Richard Eaton at the Court of International Trade, tasked with overseeing the refund distribution, then ordered the Trump administration to immediately start the process by asking Customs and Border Protection to recalculate its revenues without the tariffs to determine the rebate total – a tally that the agency estimates at about US$166 billion. But no one is sure how long it will take or whether it will work. And that uncertainty is sparking a fresh round of litigation.

The how and why of gun control

March 12, 2026

What is at stake in Hemani is not whether the government may criminalize mixing guns and drugs.
Rather, the law under which it indicted him prohibits a person from possessing firearms at all times because he sometimes uses drugs.

Supreme Court axes ‘artificial’ limit blocking relief for federal prisoners

January 14, 2026

A Florida man’s complex jurisdictional appeal forced the justices to wrestle with whether Congress could strip the high court of authority to reign supreme over federal law.

Which Supreme Court cases are actually important?

December 18, 2025

t’s the age-old question: Does the Supreme Court decide its cases based on rank partisanship rather than legal principles?

Many scholars and commentators unhesitatingly answer in the affirmative. Such individuals may acknowledge that the plurality of Supreme Court decisions are unanimous (42% last term) and that the vast majority of the court’s cases do not break down by the 6-3 conservative/liberal split (over 90% last term). But, in their view, the important cases are decided along partisan lines.

Of course, this raises the obvious follow-up: Which cases are the important ones?

Supreme Court calls for ‘balls and strikes’ to remedy trial court mishaps

November 24, 2025

In two unanimous rulings on Monday, the Supreme Court rebutted trial court decisions where the justices determined that judges had strayed too far from precedent.
“To put it plainly, courts ‘call balls and strikes’; they don’t get a turn at bat,” the court wrote in a per curiam ruling — using a metaphor that Chief Justice John Roberts famously made during his confirmation hearings.

Court to consider circumstances in which police may enter a home during an emergency

October 14, 2025

The Fourth Amendment generally requires police officers to obtain a warrant before they enter a home. But the Supreme Court has recognized several exceptions to that rule for emergencies. On Wednesday, Oct. 15, in Case v. Montana, the justices will consider how certain police must be that there is an emergency before they can enter a home without a warrant. Is it enough, as the Montana Supreme Court held, that police have only “reasonable suspicion” that there is an emergency? Or are police officers required to meet a higher bar and have probable cause to believe that there is an emergency?

US Supreme Court rejects tobacco firms' appeal over graphic warnings

November 29, 2024

The rule was adopted by the agency in 2020 during Donald Trump's first presidential administration. The FDA required that warnings about the risks of smoking occupy the top 50% of cigarette packs and top 20% of advertisements. The regulation is technically in effect, but the FDA has generally withheld, enforcing it amid legal challenges.

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