The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Daily: The Supreme Court’s Long Shadow with Steve Vladeck and Kate Klonick
May 8, 2026
Steve Vladeck, Georgetown law professor and Supreme Court commentator, joins to unpack the rise of the shadow docket and thin emergency rulings. He and Kate Klonick discuss the New York Times leak, Chief Justice Roberts’s memos, tensions between the high court and lower courts, and how procedural choices and political pressures shape judicial accountability.
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Shadow Docket Is Orders Not Full Opinions
- The shadow docket covers the Supreme Court's orders and emergency rulings issued without full opinions.
- Steve Vladeck explains it grew from summary reversals into a busy emergency docket with unsigned, often unexplained orders since 2015.
Leak Shows Truncated Internal Decision Making
- The New York Times leak revealed emergency application memos showing truncated internal processing.
- Vladeck notes memos were quick, paper-only, and lacked deep deliberation, contradicting public assumptions.
Clean Power Plan Memo Skipped Proper Equity Balance
- Roberts's initial memos on the Clean Power Plan gave short shrift to standards and equity balancing.
- Vladeck highlights Roberts accepted industry irreparable-harm claims and barely weighed environmental or governmental harms.