Texas Abortion Case Highlights Concern Over Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket’

A process intended to help the court deal with emergency petitions and routine matters has grown into a backdoor way of making major policy decisions.

As Democrats Renew Voting Rights Push, Offsetting Roberts Court Is Top of Mind

The House’s voting rights legislation named for the civil rights leader John Lewis seeks to counter the Supreme Court’s longstanding bid to undermine the Voting Rights Act.

Appeals Court Blocks Ruling That Overturned California’s Assault Weapons Ban

The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit leaves the three-decade-old ban in place while litigation continues.

Senate Confirms Top Biden Judge as McConnell Threatens Future Nominees

As Ketanji Brown Jackson became the president’s first appellate judge, Senator Mitch McConnell suggested he would block a Biden Supreme Court pick in 2024 if Republicans gained the majority.

U.S. Senate Confirms First Muslim Federal District Judge

The judge, Zahid N. Quraishi of New Jersey, said after his selection by President Biden, “Candidly, I would prefer to be the hundredth, if not the thousandth.”

Senate Confirms First Biden Judges, Beginning Push to Rebalance Courts

The votes were the start of an effort by Democrats to confirm liberals and people of color to the federal courts after Donald J. Trump moved aggressively to install conservative white men.

Democrats’ Improbable New F.E.C. Strategy: More Deadlock Than Ever

Here is the inside story of how Democrats, after a decade of defeats at the nation’s top campaign watchdog, are trying to enforce election laws in part by losing on purpose in federal court.