Aspiring academics apply to our new academic fellowship program UTexasLaw 👇👇👇

We're going to come back to this a lot over the next six weeks, but *please* don't confuse ' #SCOTUS slaps down a wackadoodle Fifth Circuit decision' with ' #SCOTUS is more moderate than its critics claim.'

'Not as radical as the Fifth Circuit' is not the same as 'moderate.'

One of the themes of this term is going to be how few votes the Fifth Circuit has, even on the current Court, for its more radical ... interpretations ... of the Constitution and relevant federal statutes.

Here, it got Alito and Gorsuch on appropriations, and *no one else.*

Third (and last) decision is CFPB.

For 7-2 Court, Justice Thomas *reverses* Fifth Circuit; upholds CFPB funding scheme.

Alito, joined by Gorsuch, dissents:

supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…

Second #SCOTUS opinion is Sotomayor for a unanimous Court in Smith re: the Federal Arbitration Act:

supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…

First (but not last) #SCOTUS ruling of the morning is in Harrow.

For a unanimous Court, Justice Kagan sides with furloughed DoD employee in technical dispute over statutes of limitations:

supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…

With #SCOTUS decisions expected at 10 ET, here's my list of merits cases argued this term and not yet decided, sorted by *when* they were argued.

Yellow = major; orange = consolidated; green = 5th Cir.; light blue = state court; black = original JX; blue = cert before judgment.

This may have to go down as “The Hartenstein Game.”

Time to re=up my The Economist review economist.com/culture/2023/0…

A good deal on a great book that's increasingly salient as SCOTUS tackles more and more big questions off its main stage.

I read it. I recommend that you do, too!

One week to go until the paperback version of “The Shadow Docket,” with a new preface, hits the shelves!!

It’s not too late to preorder your copy; use the code “VLADECK2024” to receive 20% off from Basic Books:

tinyurl.com/shadowdocketpb

Today’s “One First” takes a deep dive into the two pending emergency applications respecting Louisiana’s congressional redistricting—and, among other things, how they provide #SCOTUS an opportunity to at least *look* consistent in how and when it intervenes in election cases:

Achievement unlocked:

Missing a connection because, even though *your* plane arrived on time, the airport that you’re flying out of has only one gate for your airline, and the plane *before* yours arrived late.

Be sure to check out the post on Steve Vladeck's Substack (One First) that we are discussing in this episode here:

stevevladeck.substack.com/p/76-a-taxonom…