The Supreme Court has 33 decisions pending as the term enters its final weeks, with landmark rulings on birthright citizenship, agency removals, and TPS designations imminent.
The Supreme Court of the United States has issued 31 decisions in argued cases this term and has 33 rulings still outstanding, entering the compressed final weeks when the Court historically releases the bulk of its most consequential opinions [1]. Among the pending cases are challenges to birthright citizenship, the scope of presidential authority to remove independent agency heads, and the administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status designations for Haitian and Syrian nationals [2]. The next scheduled opinion days fall on May 18 and May 21 [1].
The Court accepted 71 cases for the 2025-26 term [1]. The pending docket reflects the Court's standard practice of concentrating its most contested rulings in May and June, as the term closes before the summer recess. No single motion or argument event prompted this overview; rather, the 33-case backlog represents the cumulative remainder of a term that has already produced decisions across administrative law, criminal procedure, and statutory interpretation.
Three cases draw particular attention from practitioners tracking executive power and immigration doctrine. The birthright citizenship litigation asks whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause permits executive action to restrict jus soli citizenship [2]. Trump v. Slaughter presents the question of whether the President may remove the heads of independent agencies without cause, a question that could extend or cabin the Court's 2020 Seila Law ruling [2]. The TPS cases, involving nationals of Haiti and Syria, will determine whether the administration's rescission of those designations was lawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act [2].
The significance for compliance and litigation planning is direct. A ruling curtailing independent agency tenure protections would affect the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and other multi-member bodies whose enforcement posture many regulated entities are actively monitoring. A decision narrowing birthright citizenship would generate immediate constitutional litigation in multiple circuits. Either outcome in the TPS cases could alter removal proceedings for hundreds of thousands of individuals currently shielded by those designations [2].
The Court will continue releasing opinions on Mondays and Thursdays through late June, with the final opinion day typically falling before July 1 [1]. Counsel tracking these matters should anticipate compressed timelines between decision and compliance obligation, particularly in the independent agency and immigration dockets where regulatory consequences are immediate.