Justice William Paterson died on this day in 1806. Among other things, he was the subject of a recent Closer Look.
At the Court
On Tuesday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for it to use the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to identify noncitizens on state voter rolls. For more on the new filing, see the On Site section below.
Also on Tuesday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ request to clear the way for the state to use its new congressional map in the midterm elections. Find Amy’s coverage of the decision in the On Site section.
On Sunday, the Trump administration again appealed a dispute over President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting to the Supreme Court. A response to the administration’s latest request is due today by 4 p.m. EDT.
Morning Reads
Conflicting court rulings leave Missouri congressional map in chaos
Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post (paywalled)
Moments after Justice Brett Kavanaugh “let stand a lower court decision blocking a Missouri congressional map that had been designed to give Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives,” a federal judge weighing a separate but related case “ordered the state to use the more GOP-friendly map that the justice had just blocked,” according to The Washington Post. “That ruling was quickly appealed to an appeals court,” and the Supreme Court could eventually be asked to weigh in, “leaving the ultimate status of Missouri’s congressional map uncertain for the moment.” “Tuesday’s rulings came just as Missouri is finalizing its electoral slates for November and is preparing to send mail-in ballots to voters.” State leaders said Tuesday that they would “use the GOP-friendly map.”
Trump’s Mail Voting Plan Is Coming to a Head. Here’s What to Know.
Abbie VanSickle, The New York Times (paywalled)
Amid the ongoing dispute over President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting, The New York Times put together an explainer on what’s at stake in this stage in the battle, which is focused on the U.S. Postal Service’s “new rules for states that allow voting by mail.” The rules, which, among other things, would require states to give voter data to USPS and use special envelopes for ballots, “remain blocked as of Tuesday,” but the Supreme Court is considering whether to pause the ruling that kept them from being implemented. “The groups challenging the new rules argue that the plan violates the Constitution’s division of power, which gives states and Congress, not the executive branch, responsibility for elections.” The Times noted that it may soon be too late to implement the new USPS rules before the midterm elections, because two states, North Carolina and Delaware, have already begun mailing ballots and 16 more “are set to distribute ballots in the next two weeks.”
Supersized arguments at the Supreme Court are testing the patience of justices
Carrie Johnson, NPR
As the start of the 2026-27 term – and the term’s first oral arguments – draws closer, the justices are likely continuing to reflect on whether the format for arguments needs a refresh. Highlighting recent comments from Chief Justice John Roberts about today’s arguments being too long, NPR reported on possible reforms, noting that many court watchers believe there is “no easy fix.” “I don’t know what you do,” said former acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeff Wall in July. “It’s like when I’m on a conference call and I want someone to stop talking. There’s no easy way to get people to talk less when you would like them to.”
Lonnie Bunch to retire from Smithsonian leadership following clash with Trump administration
Meg Kinnard and Gary Fields, Associated Press
On Tuesday, Lonnie Bunch announced that he “is stepping down from the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution following a tumultuous year in which President Donald Trump tried to remake the portrayal of U.S. history by the Smithsonian museums and other cultural entities,” according to the Associated Press. “Bunch’s departure comes two months after a White House report branded the leaders of the Smithsonian Institution, especially at the National Museum of American History, as radical activists who cannot be trusted” and amid speculation that Trump will seek to fire some leaders. The AP noted that the “Smithsonian operates outside the executive branch and museum directors report to Bunch, who is subject to oversight from a Board of Regents that includes” Chief Justice John Roberts. “Roberts, who serves as Smithsonian’s chancellor, said in a release that Bunch had ‘pursued excellence in the telling of our nation’s story.’”
Opinion: The dangers of judges imposing their theology on litigants
Stephanie N. Taub, Deseret News
In a column for the Deseret News, Stephanie N. Taub urged the justices to “correct the ongoing problem of judges subtly replacing believers’ understanding of what their religion requires with the judge’s own beliefs while evaluating religious liberty cases,” contending that the problem has emerged in everything from cases on the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate to disputes over efforts to develop land that’s sacred to Native Americans. “[W]hen someone brings a case arguing that the government is infringing on religious liberty,” Taub wrote, “judges should tread carefully.”
On Site
Court News
Citing election-fraud concerns, Trump administration brings dispute over voter database to the Supreme Court
The Trump administration on Tuesday asked the justices to clear the way for it to implement a program that it says is intended to combat election fraud. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the court to pause a ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that bars the government from using the current version of the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to verify voters’ citizenship.
Court News
Elections dispute continues after Justice Kavanaugh turns down request from Missouri to use congressional map expected to aid Republicans
Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday blocked Missouri from using a new congressional map, intended to give Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, in the November elections. In a brief order sent to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Kavanaugh – who handles emergency appeals from the 8th Circuit, which includes Missouri – turned down a request from the state’s top election official to pause a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court that bars the state from deploying the new map.
Contributor Corner
The century-old fight to test birthright citizenship
In her In Dissent column, Anastasia Boden revisited United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 case that played a significant role in the court’s June ruling striking down President Donald Trump’s first executive order on birthright citizenship. According to Boden, the case illustrates “how old battles may reemerge long after they’ve seemingly been won.”
Contributor Corner
The “born free and equal” clauses and same-sex marriage
In his Born Free and Equal column, Steven Calabresi explored the role of the “born free and equal” clauses in the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision finding a national constitutional right to same-sex civil marriages.
SCOTUS Outside Opinions
Empower the Supreme Court’s supermajority on substantive matters
For his series on what the Supreme Court can do better, Josh Blackman wrote about why he believes the court should adopt certain rules under which a six-justice supermajority could speed up or otherwise alter the court’s typical processes, such as six justices being able to decide whether to skip oral argument in a merits case.
A Closer Look
Coverage of Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters
As noted above, the Supreme Court has been asked on its interim docket to weigh in on a dispute over whether an updated version of the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system can be used to verify the citizenship status of registered voters. The Trump administration claims that using the SAVE system in this way will benefit states as they assess their voter rolls and support the federal government’s effort to combat election fraud. However, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., agreed with voting-rights and privacy-rights organizations that using the SAVE service for this purpose violates restrictions on how the government handles data. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit subsequently declined to put that decision on hold.
The Trump administration’s emergency application in the case was widely covered on Tuesday, but headlines varied quite a bit from outlet to outlet. Here’s a sampling of headlines used to describe the dispute:
Bloomberg: Supreme Court Asked to Enter Voter Verification System Fight
Reuters: Trump asks Supreme Court to allow voter verification database that was blocked by judge
CBS News: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow use of database to check voters’ citizenship
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Officials Ask High Court to Allow Immigration Database for Voter Scrutiny
The New York Times: Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Voter-Screening Tool
The Hill: DHS asks Supreme Court to reinstate overhauled immigration tool for midterms
Courthouse News Service: Feds demand revival of national citizenship database ahead of midterms
CNN: Trump asks Supreme Court to revive controversial system used for voter purges
The Washington Times: DHS asks Supreme Court to revive database to screen out noncitizen voters
SCOTUS Quote
MR. SRINIVASAN: “But in concert with Federal policy priorities, so it's not just – it's not just a naked grant of money. If you had an entitlement, Justice Scalia, for example, let's just consider your classic entitlement –”
JUSTICE SCALIA: “I understand. It is – it is a naked grant of money to implement a particular program.”
MR. SRINIVASAN: “To implement a particular program and –”
JUSTICE SCALIA: “Okay. And you call that ‘partnering with the Federal government’?”
MR. SRINIVASAN: “I do.”
JUSTICE SCALIA: “Terrible verb, anyway.”
(Laughter.)
MR. SRINIVASAN: “Okay. My apologies for that. For associating with the organization recipient in carrying out a Federal program.”
— Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc. (2013)
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