Stephen Vladeck — The Shadow Docket

Watch author Stephen Vladeck's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose book store in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue emergency rulings in exceptional circumstances. But since 2017, the Court has dramatically expanded its use of the behind-the-scenes "shadow docket," regularly making decisions that affect millions of Americans without public hearings and without explanation, through cryptic late-night rulings that leave lawyers--and citizens--scrambling.

The Court's conservative majority has used the shadow docket to green-light restrictive voting laws and bans on abortion, and to curtail immigration and COVID vaccine mandates. But Americans of all political stripes should be worried about what the shadow docket portends for the rule of law, argues Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck. In this rigorous yet accessible book, he issues an urgent call to bring the Court back into the light.

Stephen Vladeck holds the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law. His work has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Slate. He has argued before the Supreme Court and has been CNN’s Supreme Court analyst since 2013. Vladeck lives in Austin, Texas.

Vladeck will be in conversation with Mark Joseph Stern. Stern is a senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate Magazine. He holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the Maryland Bar. He's also the author of American Justice 2019: The Roberts Court Arrives, published by the University of Pennsylvania press.

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