The Supreme Court's annual "long conference" today marks the unofficial start of the 2026-27 term, as justices consider petitions that accumulated over the summer recess. The official term begins Oct. 5 with oral arguments. But before that, the Court has already acted on several high-profile emergency requests.
On Friday, the Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to use a modified version of the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to identify noncitizens on state voter rolls. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Also on Friday, the Court declined, for the third time, to allow Missouri to use a congressional map expected to aid Republicans in November's elections. No public dissents were recorded. Separately, on Thursday, the administration asked the Court to intervene in a dispute over third-country removals—the removal of noncitizens to countries not listed in their removal orders. A response to that request is due today by 4 p.m. EDT, as the justices meet for the long conference.