The Supreme Court has given the Trump administration a major victory, curbing nationwide injunctions from district courts that halted Trump's plans to end birthright citizenship.

The court's conservatives argued in a 6-3 ruling that because nationwide injunctions did not exist in the High Court of Chancery in England at the time of the nation’s founding, lower courts had overstepped in blocking Trump’s executive order. Notably, the Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship.

In a scathing opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes: “The gamesmanship in this request is apparent and the Government makes no attempt to hide it. Yet, shamefully, this Court plays along. Because I will not be complicit in so grave an attack on our system of law, I dissent.”

Also in this episode, the Supreme Court rules in Mahmoud v. Taylor that parents are able to opt their children out of pro-LGBTQ books being read in schools.

June 26 was supposed to be the final day of the 2025 Supreme Court term — but the justices had other plans. In this live episode, we break down a major ruling on South Carolina’s right to block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. And stay tuned for what to expect from tomorrow’s blockbuster opinions.

It's that time of year again... welcome to Decision Season 2025.

In one of the most consequential rulings of the term, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Justice Sotomayor’s dissent pulls no punches: “By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.”Plus, a preview of the other blockbuster cases yet to be released later this month, and Dave Ball discovers the wild world of emojis in the SCOTUSblog live chat.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. But they’re facing an uphill battle, since — as the court’s liberals happily remind them — they’ve lost every case on this issue so far. 

For background, Trump signed an executive order banning birthright citizenship in the United States. But there’s one major problem: the first sentence of the 14th amendment says all people born in the United States are automatically citizens. The White House has defended the policy, saying the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allows the suspension of habeas corpus rights during an invasion. Trump’s odds were looking slim in court, given we’re not under an invasion of any kind. But that all changed over the weekend, when an antique Mexican naval vessel accidentally crashed into the Brooklyn bridge.

The Supreme Court has upheld Congress's law banning TikTok, but there's more developing on the app's future practically every hour. Despite Donald Trump signing an executive order to ban TikTok during his first term, on the first day of his second term, he floated a "50% joint venture" between TikTok and the U.S. government. Congress has no idea how to feel about the national security concerns on both sides of the aisle. Luckily, Dave Ball is just learning the app exists.

In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court takes on a pivotal case challenging Tennessee’s law that bans transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers. Critics argue the law violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, as these same treatments remain available to non-transgender youth for other medical reasons. But the Court’s conservative majority stands poised to roll back access to this care. The question is, how far.

On this episode, John teaches Dave about the magical world of the Joe Rogan podcast, we discuss the state of the race just a few days out from Election Day, and Dave explains how the Supreme Court is getting out so many election rulings using its aptly named "shadow docket."

In a move that had most MSNBC hosts trying to jump out of a window, Biden revealed a few umm geriatric tendencies in Thursday's debate, and the Supreme Court gave Donald Trump 'absolute immunity' for much of his presidential acts. This episode, we dig into what that actually means for our democracy and his other court cases.

We also discuss the Chevron case being overturned, which gifted the Federalist society yet another of their largest goals before Project 2025 can be implemented.

Thankfully, Dave Ball had a few optimistic takes around health and safety standards going down at his favorite donut shop.

Welcome back listeners!

We're back from a brief hiatus since John started his new job at Inside with Jen Psaki on MSNBC (throw them a follow on social media if you haven't already!)

This episode, we get into all the blockbuster cases released so far -- South Carolina's gerrymandering case, gun bans for domestic abusers, and abortion pills -- but still no decision from the court yet on Trump's "presidential immunity" claim (and two other cases no one cares about).

We'll be recording LIVE for the Trump immunity release, so make sure to tune in for that as well!

There's no cameras allowed in the courtroom. But if there were, let's just say... there wouldn't have been a lot of other news coverage this week.

It's the case we've all been waiting for: whether Donald Trump can be disqualified from running for President.