Stephen Vladeck Sounds Alarm on Supreme Court's Abuse of 'The Shadow Docket'

KQED's Forum

The U.S. Supreme Court is known for its public docket of consequential cases, with scheduled oral arguments and lengthy decisions often released in the month of June. But the Court’s conservative majority has been making more use of the so-called “shadow docket” for controversial cases, issuing perfunctory unsigned orders with little to no legal analysis. University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck argues it’s urgent that Supreme Court curtail its growing use of the shadow docket, and he joins us to explain why. His new book is “The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.”

Guests:

Stephen Vladeck, professor, University of Texas School of Law; author, "The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic"; co-host, the National Security Law podcast; Supreme Court analyst, CNN