NYT is releasing internal SCOTUS documents re: 2016 creation of the modern "Shadow Docket" [View all]

The Trump-packed conservative court used its "shadow-docket" to enable Trump, but in contrast, also used it to block Obama and Biden.

But certain talking heads on socials and elsewhere continue to go on about how the USSC really isn't just another political arm of the Republican party, The Heritage Foundation, and right-wing billionaires.

1/The NYT is releasing internal SCOTUS documents re: 2016 creation of the modern “Shadow Docket” noting Justice Roberts & “other conservative justices have repeatedly empowered [Trump] through their shadow docket rulings. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

— Joyce White Vance (@joycewhitevance.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T13:27:29.119Z

2/By contrast, the papers reveal a court wielding those same powers to block Mr. Obama. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. warned that if the court failed to stop the president, its own ‘institutional legitimacy’ would be threatened.”

— Joyce White Vance (@joycewhitevance.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T13:27:56.157Z