John Marshall and the Need for Judicial Transparency

John Marshall and the Need for Judicial Transparency
John Marshall and the Need for Judicial Transparency

Whatever you think about the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial, 5-4 midnight ruling on the Texas statute forbidding most abortions in the state, one thing is clear: the Court bears, in the name of accountability, the great responsibility of explaining its reasoning to the American people.

The Court’s reliance on the “shadow docket,” a historic practice of ruling on emergency petitions, to uphold a…