Kavanaugh Pushes New Label for Supreme Court Emergency Docket [View all]
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/kavanaugh-pushes-new-label-for-supreme-court-emergency-docket
Justice Brett Kavanaugh is doing his best to rebrand the Supreme Courts emergency docket known colloquially as the shadow docket by another name.
I think the term interim docket best captures it, Kavanaugh told attendees at the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuits conference in Memphis on Thursday, after he was asked to settle the dispute over what to call the justices oft-criticized practice of issuing brief orders in pending cases without explanation.
Though the docket has also been called the emergency docket, for its handling of emergency requests for relief or the shadow docket by critics who see it as opaque Kavanaugh noted that not all of these requests the justices field are emergencies.
Its not real catchy, so Im not sure itll bloom, but thats the term Kavanaugh said of his preferred label, which hed also invoked in July at the Eighth Circuits conference in Kansas City.
In his remarks Thursday, Kavanaugh once again defended the justices handling of the emergency docket, which President Donald Trump has turned to repeatedly this year to advance his agenda in the face of lower court resistance.
Ah yes, because the problem worthy of public debate is what we *call* it when #SCOTUS decides major issues without full briefing, argument, or written opinionsânot, you know, what the Court is actually *doing* in these cases.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) 2025-09-04T20:55:50.177Z