Supreme Court, Swamped by Emergencies, Neglects Rest of Docket

The New York Times quoted Covington partner Sarah Harrington in an analysis of how the Supreme Court’s expanding emergency docket has slowed the pace of decisions on its traditional merits docket, resulting in an unusually late issuance of the court’s first signed opinion of the term.

Sarah, a former solicitor general’s office veteran, pointed to the volume and historical novelty of the federal government’s requests for emergency relief. “The federal government has asked the Supreme Court for emergency relief from lower court orders and injunctions this term at a rate not previously seen,” she said. She also observed that while emergency rulings are often brief, the court has begun issuing longer opinions “perhaps partially in response to some public criticism of the court’s practice of issuing consequential orders without explanation,” reflecting the growing strain the emergency docket has placed on the justices’ workload.