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Politics dictionary results for shadow docket.

shadow docket

American  

[shad-oh dok-it] / ˈʃæd oʊ ˌdɒk ɪt /

noun

1. a list of the cases resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court by unsigned procedural orders issued without full briefing, oral arguments, or lengthy written opinions.

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Etymology

Origin of shadow docket

Coined by U.S. legal scholar and University of Chicago law professor William P. Baude (born 1950) in 2015

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shadow docket

On the shadow docket, justices do not have to make their votes known.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

Although rulings on the shadow docket are typically unsigned and do not include vote breakdowns, we were able to identify how a justice voted in some cases.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

This second half of the term, there has been a pumping of the brakes on deciding big, existential questions over the shadow docket.

From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026

It leads to this interplay between the shadow docket and the merits docket.

From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026

It’s a “three-ring circus”: the merits docket, the shadow docket, and the justices’ increasingly public intramural snipings and gripes.

From Slate ● May 30, 2026