Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized the court’s increasing use of its emergency docket during a speech Thursday night (September 24) at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law in Washington, D.C.

The emergency docket, sometimes called the “shadow docket,” allows the Supreme Court to quickly consider requests for emergency action, including requests to pause lower-court decisions while litigation continues. Unlike cases on the court’s regular merits docket, emergency cases generally involve limited briefing and no oral arguments, and the justices often issue decisions with little or no explanation, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Jackson’s comments come as the Trump administration has increasingly turned to the emergency docket.

The Hill reported that Thursday’s application marked the administration’s 40th emergency application to the Supreme Court since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The administration argues the applications are necessary because lower-court judges have overstepped, while critics argue they reflect unlawful actions by the president.

Jackson said the court’s current approach is troubling.

“Our modern methods are not serving the court or the country well,” Jackson said, according to Courthouse News Service. She said she “adamantly reject[s] any effort to normalize a process whereby the Supreme Court actively superintends matters that are pending in the lower courts.”

Jackson said the court has become “noticeably less restrained” in using the emergency docket. She warned that it could become “an end-run around the standard review process” and “a special avenue that certain privileged litigants can use selectively.”

“Why is it that one party should get a fast pass to the Supreme Court of the United States when so many other parties are queued up, waiting patiently for the court’s attention?” Jackson asked.

She also warned that emergency rulings can cause “significant real-world harms” and undermine public trust when cases have not received full consideration on their merits.

Jackson proposed requiring parties seeking emergency intervention to show they face imminent harm that cannot wait for the normal appeals process.

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