Jackson Criticizes Supreme Court Emergency Docket

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized the court’s use of emergency orders during a Thursday appearance at the University of the District of Columbia law school, warning that the expedited process risks bypassing ordinary judicial review and giving some litigants faster access to the justices than others receive. Jackson said the court had become less restrained in intervening in pending, controversial cases. She argued that emergency relief should turn on whether a party faces impending, irreparable harm before a case can receive full consideration, rather than on whether a lower court may have made a legal error. Her comments were directed at the court’s handling of emergency requests, including applications from the Trump administration. The emergency docket allows parties to ask the justices to act while litigation continues in lower courts. Such matters generally proceed more quickly than cases on the court’s regular docket and may be decided with abbreviated briefing and limited explanation.