The Supreme Court’s “Shadow Docket”: A Conversation with Stephen Vladeck

The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue unsigned and unexplained rulings. But in recent years, the Court has dramatically expanded its use of the behind-the-scenes “shadow docket,” regularly making decisions that affect millions of Americans without public hearings and without explanation, many through cryptic late-night rulings that leave lawyers—and citizens—scrambling.

The Court’s conservative majority has used the shadow docket to green-light restrictive voting laws and bans on abortion, and to curtail immigration and COVID vaccine mandates. As University of Texas School of Law Professor Stephen Vladeck explains in his New York Times-bestselling book, “The Shadow Docket,” Americans of all political stripes should be worried about what the shadow docket portends for the rule of law. Professor Vladeck will join Franita Tolson in a wide-ranging conversation about the shadow docket—and what it has to teach us about how the Supreme Court has come to play such a central and controversial role in so many facets of our lives.