The Supreme Court faces 23 unissued opinions entering its final month, with decisions on birthright citizenship, agency removal power, and mail ballots expected by early July.
The Supreme Court has entered the final stretch of its 2025-26 term with approximately 23 opinions still unissued, among them cases that could reshape birthright citizenship, the President's power to remove independent agency officers, Federal Reserve governance, mail ballot deadlines, and state bans on transgender athletes in school sports [1]. Rulings are expected before the Court rises for its summer recess, likely in early July [2].
The pending decisions span several of the term's highest-profile disputes. In Trump v. Barbara, the Court will rule on whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause guarantees birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to parents without lawful immigration status [3]. Two companion cases, Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook, ask the Court to reconsider or limit Humphrey's Executor v. United States, the 1935 precedent that shields commissioners of independent agencies, and by extension Federal Reserve governors, from at-will presidential removal [1]. Watson v. RNC presents a question of federal election law, specifically whether states may impose mail ballot receipt deadlines that fall after Election Day [2]. West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox ask whether state laws barring transgender girls and women from competing in female athletic categories are constitutionally permissible [3].
The breadth of the docket is significant for practitioners in multiple disciplines simultaneously. A ruling against Humphrey's Executor in the Slaughter and Cook cases would expose the leadership of the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and potentially the Federal Reserve to removal without cause, altering the legal architecture of the administrative state that has governed regulatory agencies for nearly a century [1]. A decision limiting birthright citizenship would raise immediate questions about enforcement, retroactivity, and the scope of any injunctive relief [2]. Any change to mail ballot rules before the 2026 midterm elections would require rapid adaptation by state election administrators [2].
No argument dates remain. The Court is in its opinion-issuing phase and releases decisions on opinion days typically scheduled for Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays during the final weeks of June [1]. Counsel with clients affected by these cases should monitor the Court's release calendar closely and prepare contingency analyses for each plausible outcome.