SCOTUS Week in Review: Justices give another win to the GOP and hope to DOGE and Eastman

The Supreme Court's latest orders brought Republicans and the Trump administration several favorable developments and gave a former Trump lawyer a small opening. The justices will hear the administration's appeal in a records fight with a watchdog group pursuing information about the Elon Musk-backed Department of Government Efficiency. Earlier in that litigation, the conservative majority had directed lower courts to limit how much evidence could be gathered about the initiative, according to MS NOW.

On the cost of campaign advertising before the midterms, a majority suspended a lower court order that would have forced the Federal Communications Commission to address a Democratic challenge to its reading of the law. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson registered disagreement. Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, and fellow candidates accused the agency of stalling until judicial review could no longer matter.

Separately, Sotomayor, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, criticized the repeated prosecution of Jesus Herrera-Salazar, who faced a fresh charge after complying with a supervised-release order to remain in Oklahoma. John Eastman, stripped of his California law license, saw the court ask the state bar to respond to his petition, though that step alone does not show four justices are willing to take his case.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →