Supreme Court Hearings 2026 February and March Schedule 

Here's a schedule of upcoming hearings in 2026 that Courts Matter Illinois is monitoring:

ENBRIDGE ENERGY, LP v. NESSEL, Feb. 24

PUNG v. ISABELLA COUNTY, Feb. 25

UNITED STATES v. HEMANI, Mar. 2

Visit our SCOTUS Page for more details. Oral arguments occur at 9AM Central. Listen in here.  

Senate Judiciary Committee

The following nominees appeared at the judiciary committee’s February 4 hearing: Anna St. John to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (opposed by NCJW), John Thomas Shepherd to the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, and Andrew Davis and Chris Wolfe to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. 

Under questioning from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the nominees skirted the opportunity to say that President Biden won the popular vote in 2020 and to condemn the January 6 insurrection. These nominees are likely to get a committee vote on March 5. 

NCJW is one of many groups opposing Anna St. John, a nominee who spent her legal career silencing women, attacking LGBTQ+ rights, and cutting off corporate accountability for everyday people as head of the Hamilton Legal Law Institute, a far-right extremist organization that routinely files lawsuits to attack civil rights, undermine consumer protections, eliminate gender equality, and deny basic human rights. 

When Will We Get Tariff Rulings from SCOTUS?

Weekly Wrap Up

In the last few weeks, ICE partially shut down the federal government as the Senate argued over what kind of restrictions and guidelines should be placed on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, causing havoc and harm in Minneapolis and other US cities. 

Last Tuesday, the president signed a bill to fund government agencies through the end of the fiscal year and fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for an additional two weeks while negotiations were ongoing. At this point, it is unclear whether an agreement can be reached by that deadline. 

While the Senate was debating what to do about ICE, which a sizable majority of Americans say has gone too far, lawmakers confirmed six more of the president’s judicial nominees (some of whom, ironically, may be asked to rule on ICE-related matters). The confirmed judges are: Justin Olson (50-47) to the District Court of the Southern District of Indiana (opposed by NCJW); Nicholas Ganjei (opposed by NCJW) to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas (51-45); Megan Benton to the District Court for the Western District of Missouri (51-46); and Brian Lea to the District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (50-46). Receiving Democratic support for confirmation were David Fowlkes to the District Court for the Western District of Arkansas (54-40) and Aaron Peterson to the District Court for the District of Alaska (58-39). That makes 33 Trump judges confirmed. No new nominees have been announced.

ICE and immigration issues have been occupying federal court judges, too. Here’s a look at some of the latest cases. 

Thank you for everything you do on behalf of fair and independent courts. Stay warm and safe! 

Headlines

(Alliance for Justice) Loyalty litmus: the first year of Trump 2.0’s federal courts

(The 19th) No women of color appointed to federal judgeships in Trump’s first year back

(Slate) The horrifying truth behind Liam Ramos’ abduction

(NYTimes) How the Supreme Court secretly made itself even more secretive

(Democracy Docket) Appeals court tosses DOJ’s misconduct claim against judge

(Scotusblog) Supreme Court allows California to use congressional map benefitting Democrats

Waiting for the Clash! New Blog Post by CMIL Co-Founder and Chair