A site for critical, progressive, and bullshit-free commentary about courts, judges, and the legal system they uphold.

Jan 15, 2025 · Each year, of the thousands of petitions for review that the Supreme Court receives, the justices typically grant fewer than 100. For just about everyone else, a decision made by one of the 13 federal courts of appeals is the end of the line, which makes these life-tenured judges some of the most powerful people many Americans have never heard of.

What do you all do? Balls & Strikes publishes original commentary and reporting about courts, the judges who preside over them, and the legal system they uphold. Ah, but I already read Noah Feldman’s Bloomberg columns. Balls & Strikes’s coverage is …

Sep 15, 2021 · Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of Balls & Strikes. Previously, he was a staff writer at GQ and a senior contributor to The Appeal. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Defector, and Fast Company, among others.. More by …

Jan 14, 2025 · Early Tuesday morning, the Department of Justice released Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report of his efforts to prosecute former and soon-to-be President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. After Trump’s win in the 2024 election, Smith asked the presiding judge to dismiss the case and then abruptly resigned, citing a longstanding Department of ...

Read on to find out who President Biden is nominating to the bench, how the pace of Senate confirmations compares to previous administrations, and how this new cohort of life-tenured judges will shape the federal judiciary in the years to come.

Oct 4, 2024 · To promote Lovely One, Jackson stuck with mainstream outlets—the kinds of places where a law student’s non-lawyer parents might learn about the book and buy them a copy as a Christmas gift.She appeared on The View, and CBS Mornings, and The Today Show.She went on NPR’s Fresh Air and PBS Newshour, and sat for interviews with The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Link to: Montana Supreme Court Reminds Trans Kids that Supreme Courts Can Actually Do Good Things

Oct 8, 2024 · Earlier today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Garland v. VanDerStok, the justices’ latest opportunity to threaten the elected branches’ ability to address the national gun violence crisis.Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968 to regulate “the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing in firearms” with requirements like background checks for gun purchasers and ...

Dec 12, 2022 · In May 2020, some 230 years after its founding, the Supreme Court implemented the most radical transparency measure in its history. As the Court shifted to an all-remote oral argument format due to COVID-19, it also began providing live audio of oral argument for anyone who wanted to listen.