One Supreme Court term down at Law Dork

Thank you! A look back at what I did here this term, a brief look-ahead — and three asks.

With Thursday’s publication of the second half of my 303 Creative v. Elenis report, I’ve now completed my first full term of U.S. Supreme Court coverage at Law Dork.

While the October 2022 term of the Supreme Court won’t technically end until the court returns to start the October 2023 term, the bulk of the work and output from the justices is done. The merits cases have been decided, and any justices with a billionaire have presumably been jetted (or yachted) off to this year’s vacation spots. There will be occasional SCOTUS issues, for sure, and I’ll be on them, but, for most purposes, the term is done.

I’m really proud of the work I’ve done this term at Law Dork, which included in-depth coverage here of eight merits decisions:

• Sackett v. EPA

• Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters

• Allen v. Milligan

• Haaland v. Brackeen

• Jones v. Hendrix

• Moore v. Harper

• Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard; Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC

• 303 Creative v. Elenis: Part I & Part II

Among other Supreme Court coverage, I also previewed and opened the term, covered the ongoing ethics and internal administration questions, reported on a handful of key oral arguments, did some amicus coverage, reported on several important shadow docket rulings (and talked with Steve Vladeck about his book, The Shadow Docket), covered and contextualized several other merits decisions, and more.

Additionally, and as I wrote about earlier this week, I made a lot of appearances elsewhere in the closing weeks of the term, at events and on TV, radio, and podcasts — including moderating this week’s American Constitution Society national SCOTUS review of the term. That panel of incredible experts was recorded, and you can watch it here.

Thank you all so much for supporting Law Dork this term — and many of you since long before then, some back to the original Law Dork and before.

I am certainly still going to be working full-steam this summer — looking at and writing about ongoing litigation, lower court arguments and decisions, certiorari petitions, shadow docket action, and more. I’m going to be covering cases following anti-LGBTQ laws passed this year and before, ongoing criminal justice issues, continued fallout from Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the shifting landscape for redistricting and other election law-related litigation, and the (growing number of) Trump cases. And, yes, there will surely be other unexpected developments that I’ll pick up and cover.

The audience that we have already built at Law Dork, approaching 17,000 total subscribers in just over a year, is amazing. The engaged and growing community here — I truly do think that Law Dork has one of the smartest audiences on Substack — is so invigorating. I love doing this, and I am so glad that so many of you are helping to make it possible — and letting me know, directly and indirectly, that you think it’s working.

Before I finish this, I have three asks:

1. If you have relied on my reporting and analysis this past year and don’t (yet) have a paid subscription, please consider doing so if you can afford it. I am running a completely independent legal journalism operation here. It’s great, but it’s my full-time job and running a (very small) business myself has its own additional costs beyond that. To make Law Dork sustainable, I’m going to need to increase the paid subscriber base. Please help if you can.

2. If you appreciate Law Dork’s coverage, share it and encourage your friends and social media followers to subscribe. This is really important, particularly as certain social media networks become less dependable by the day at helping to share information. It’s fine — and even encouraged — to let people know that there is a free option! Share this post — *hint hint* — to show folks how much Supreme Court reporting they could get at Law Dork if they subscribed.

3. If you want me to speak at your event or conference or appear on your TV or radio show or podcast, reach out! If you have a Substack or other publication and want to do a Q&A with me for your readers, reach out! If you’re a journalist looking to talk with me for a story, reach out! If you are at another publication and want me to write something for your audience, I’m limiting my freelance because I want most of my written content to be at Law Dork, but I will consider requests, so reach out! I can’t do everything, of course, but I am open to pitches and requests. Finally and to be fully transparent on this point, I am looking to supplement my income with paid speaking engagements and also hope to secure a non-print media contract as a contributing legal expert, at least by the start of the next Supreme Court term. (So, if you’re in charge of such things and interested, definitely reach out!)

My phone tells me that it feels like 102 degrees right now in DC, so we are definitely neck-deep in summer swamp here.

I’ll have more soon — and am (hoping) that the summer months will even give me some time to do some longer, reported pieces, so that should be exciting — but, for now, I’m going to end this with another thank you.

I truly am so full of gratitude that you all are supporting this endeavor and that this is actually working out. I can’t wait to make things even better here as we move forward, as I learn more and come up with better ways of running Law Dork, and as news continues to happen. Thanks for joining me on this journey.