Steve Vladeck

They'll put anyone on TV.

You can't spell "Washington" without "Hating Snow."

Mid-20th century.

Harlan was still the senior associate justice when White was elevated.

When *Rehnquist* became Chief. I was explaining why Rehnquist wasn’t the correct answer.

Brennan was the senior associate justice when he became Chief.

This reminds me of one of my favorite #SCOTUS trivia questions--which justice was the only one to ever hold every (extant) seat on the Court, from junior associate justice to senior associate justice to Chief Justice?

Bonus 203: Correcting the Record in the Social Security/DOGE Case An eye-opening filing by the Department of Justice should give more than a little pause to the justices with respect to one of their earlier grants of emergency relief to the Trump administration.

“DOJ’s ‘Notice of Corrections’ ought to give the justices real pause … about substituting their judgment for that of district courts at least where preliminary relief has been based upon an impoverished (or non-existant) record.”

Today’s “One First” on developments in the DOGE/Social Security case:

Lesson of DOGE secret contacts with overturn-the-election group: "Justice Jackson’s SSA dissent was absolutely right—[both] about the risks inherent in giving DOGE such unfettered access to Americans’ Social Security data" and about the dangers of staying lower-court rulings on a scanty record.

Bonus 203: Correcting the Record in the Social Security/DOGE Case An eye-opening filing by the Department of Justice should give more than a little pause to the justices with respect to one of their earlier grants of emergency relief to the Trump administration.

“DOJ’s ‘Notice of Corrections’ ought to give the justices real pause … about substituting their judgment for that of district courts at least where preliminary relief has been based upon an impoverished (or non-existant) record.”

Today’s “One First” on developments in the DOGE/Social Security case:

Opinion | ‘The Justices Might Actually Have to Say No, Even to the President’

Another @nytimes.com #SCOTUS roundtable with @kateshaw.bsky.social, @williambaude.bsky.social, and me—this one on yesterday’s (one-sided) oral argument in the Lisa Cook / Fed independence case:

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/o...

Yes.

If they're *really* systemic (and the memo should help prove it), then Lyons shouldn't preclude standing to bring a classwide suit for injunctive relief.

I try to avoid hyperbole when it comes to Trump policies, but this is absolutely frickin’ insane—on about eleventy different levels.

Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.

... to us (SCOTUS).

Indeed, today's argument could be framed in at least some respects as the Court having to face (and stretch existing doctrinal understandings to account for) the consequences of its own incoherent jurisprudence.

Actually, I think there's a 100% chance that the Chief Justice is well aware of the work of @leahlitman.bsky.social and others on this exact point, and that it had more than nothing to do with his noticeable reprimand of Sauer this morning.

153. Living by the Ipse Dixit A constitutional principle like the "unitary executive theory" isn't worth all that much if the Supreme Court can conjure new, unprincipled exceptions to it by simply asserting that they exist.

#SCOTUS is likely to do the right thing in the Lisa Cook case.

But it's worth bearing in mind that this idea that the Fed is some bespoke exception to the unitary executive theory is utterly incoherent as a matter of both law and history—and is really just proof that the UET is itself bollocks:

202. The Timing of Rulings in Argued Cases The Supreme Court's internal norms usually make it more than a little difficult to be confident about which decisions in argued cases will be handed down when.

It would be highly unusual. And I don't think it was ready in any event:

www.stevevladeck.com/p/202-the-ti...

The real question I have about the Cook case, given how today's arguments have gone, is why #SCOTUS deferred the application pending argument back in October, rather than just denying it outright.

202. The Timing of Rulings in Argued Cases The Supreme Court's internal norms usually make it more than a little difficult to be confident about which decisions in argued cases will be handed down when.

I've thought all along that late February is the sweet spot.

More here: www.stevevladeck.com/p/202-the-ti...

Concur.

202. The Timing of Rulings in Argued Cases The Supreme Court's internal norms usually make it more than a little difficult to be confident about which decisions in argued cases will be handed down when.

It didn't bail; it's doing what it always does:

www.stevevladeck.com/p/202-the-ti...

He meant in the specific context of reviewing the firing of Lisa Cook "for cause," but yes.

To win in the Lisa Cook case, President Trump will almost certainly need *three* of Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, and Justice Barrett to side with him.

I'm not sure about Gorsuch, but I haven't heard *anything* to suggest he has *one* of the other three, let alone two.

Supreme Court to hear arguments for Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook from her role at the Federal Reserve | CNN Politics The Supreme Court will decide whether President Donald Trump can temporarily fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. Follow for live updates.

The CNN team and I will be live-posting about this morning's #SCOTUS arguments on President Trump's emergency application seeking to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board without giving her a chance to contest the (disputed) grounds.

You can follow along here:

www.cnn.com/politics/liv...

Supreme Court to hear arguments for Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook from her role at the Federal Reserve | CNN Politics The Supreme Court will decide whether President Donald Trump can temporarily fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. Follow for live updates.

The CNN team and I will be live-posting about this morning's #SCOTUS arguments on President Trump's emergency application seeking to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board without giving her a chance to contest the (disputed) grounds.

You can follow along here:

www.cnn.com/politics/liv...

It's not like the Supreme Court is about to hear oral arguments on whether this guy should have the power to invent reasons to fire members of the Federal Reserve board...

(Narrator: The oral argument in Trump v. Cook is set to begin in about 20 minutes.)

“I don’t remember growing older; when did they?”

Today @stevevladeck.bsky.social and I celebrate one full decade of being parents as our oldest daughter turns 10.

Being a parent is the hardest and most rewarding part of our lives. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Happy birthday to our big girl — and cheers to us for surviving the first 10.