US supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has voiced serious concerns about her colleagues’ handling of emergency requests, the method Donald Trump often uses to seek approval from the court. Jackson, one of the three liberal members of the supreme court, criticized the justices’ willingness to issue rulings via the “shadow docket”, saying it undermines the public’s faith in the judicial system.
Concerns over the shadow docket
“There is a serious concern that the supreme court’s modern stay practices are having a disruptive and potentially corrosive effect,” Jackson told faculty and students at the University of the District of Columbia’s David A Clarke school of law on Thursday. Her comments came just hours after the Trump administration filed its latest emergency request – this time asking justices to allow officials to continue deporting immigrants to countries other than their own.
The emergency docket, sometimes also referred to as the “shadow docket”, is where plaintiffs can request immediate relief from the supreme court in consequential cases. Justices can quickly grant or dismiss requests without conducting the same legal review that is typically required in merit cases or providing a lengthy explanation to the public.
Trump administration’s use of emergency requests
The Trump administration has used the method to rapidly push forward the US president’s agenda. Since returning to office in January 2025, the administration has filed more than 30 emergency requests. Many have been granted. Via emergency requests, the conservative wing of the supreme court has allowed Trump to temporarily end protections for migrants seeking asylum, eliminate transgender rights, roll back environmental protections, fire the officials in charge of independent federal agencies and more.
The justices have faced criticism for their handling of emergency requests from members of Congress and the public. However, in July, justice Elena Kagan, another member of the liberal wing of the court, told Congress that she thought they were improving its handling of requests by providing some justification.
Jackson’s critique and a White House dinner
Jackson pointed to that on Thursday, telling the audience that while the court “began to explain more”, it was “still not the full kind of explanation” that cases receive on the merits docket. “If we’re not careful, the emergency docket can and will become an end-run around the standard review process,” she added.
As Jackson critiqued the court’s current methods, which have become more prominent under the second Trump administration, three of her colleagues dined with Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping at the White House. Chief justice John Roberts and justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined other officials for the state dinner to welcome Xi.
