The U.S. Supreme Court is back in the spotlight — and this time, it’s not about a big televised case but about its quiet, fast-track “emergency docket” (a.k.a. the “shadow docket”). And guess who seems to be the biggest winner? None other than President Donald Trump.
Going by Reuters, since Trump returned to the White House, the justices have handled 23 emergency cases tied to his policies. Shockingly, he came out on top in 21 of them. That’s not just luck — that’s power consolidation.
One of the boldest examples came just weeks ago when the Court allowed Trump to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid — even though a lower court had already ruled against him. The decision, reported by The Washington Post, raised eyebrows across Washington, as it looked like Trump was flexing past Congress’s purse strings with SCOTUS backing him up.
But not everyone is clapping. Justice Elena Kagan openly criticized this trend, warning at a California judicial conference that the “shadow docket” is eroding transparency and weakening Congress’s constitutional role. Her comments were captured by the San Francisco Chronicle.
So the question stirring up legal and political gossip circles is this: Has the Supreme Court turned its emergency docket into Trump’s secret weapon? Or is this just the new face of fast-track justice in America?
