Supreme Court cases, October term 2026-2027
- Justices
- CASES BY TERM
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2026-2027
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2025-2026
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2024-2025
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2023-2024
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2022-2023
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2021-2022
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2020-2021
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2019-2020
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2018-2019
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2017-2018
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2016-2017
- Supreme Court cases, October term 2015-2016
- All earlier cases
- HISTORY OF THE COURT
- Recent vacancies
| SCOTUS |
|---|
|
| Cases by term |
| Judgeships |
| Posts: 9 |
| Judges: 9 |
| Judges |
| Chief: John Roberts |
| Active: Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas |
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the country and leads the judicial branch of the federal government. It is often referred to by the acronym SCOTUS.[1]
The Supreme Court will begin hearing cases for the term on October 5, 2026. The court's yearly term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. The court generally releases the majority of its decisions by mid-June.[2]
See the sections below for additional information on the October 2026 Term of the Supreme Court of the United States.
- Cases by circuit: This section lists the cases being heard by court of origination (e.g., federal appellate courts, federal district courts, state courts, etc.).
- Cases by sitting: This section lists the cases being heard by date of oral argument.
- Cases by date of opinion: This section lists the cases by the date the court released an opinion.
- Term data: This section provides information on the cases SCOTUS will decide, including case names, decisions, vote totals, opinion authors, and courts of origination. It also includes information on SCOTUS case reversal rates.
- Case history: This section provides information on previous SCOTUS terms.
As of February 25, 2026, the court has agreed to hear two cases during its 2026-2027 term.[3] The court has not yet scheduled any cases for argument.
As of February 25, 2026, the court has not issued any opinions for this term. Since 2007, SCOTUS has released opinions in 1,250 cases. Of those, it reversed a lower court decision 891 times (71 percent) while affirming a lower court decision 347 times (28 percent).
Cases by circuit
Article III, Section 2 of the United States Constitution establishes the court's jurisdiction. The court has original jurisdiction—when it is the first and only to hear a case—and appellate jurisdiction—when it reviews the decisions of lower courts.[4]
Parties petition SCOTUS to hear a case if they are not satisfied with a lower court's decision. The parties petition the court to grant a writ of certiorari. A writ of certiorari is an "order issued by the U.S. Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case it will hear on appeal."[4][5]
Circuits
1st Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
2nd Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
3rd Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
4th Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
5th Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
6th Circuit
7th Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
8th Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
9th Circuit
10th Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
11th Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
D.C. Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
Federal Circuit
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
Armed Forces
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
State and district courts
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
Original jurisdiction
- No cases originating from this circuit have yet been announced.
Where are the cases coming from?
Geographic boundaries
Select a region to learn more about its court of appeals.
Cases by sitting
SCOTUS' term is divided into sittings, when the justices hear cases.[6]
SCOTUS has not yet scheduled any cases for argument.
Cases by date of opinion
The Court has not yet released any opinions this term.
Term data
| 2026-2027 SCOTUS term data | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Court of origination | Argument date | Date decided | Decision | Vote | Opinion author |
| Anderson v. Intel Corporation Investment Policy Committee | United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Salazar v. Paramount Global | United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Precedent alteration
The Washington University in St. Louis Law School (WashU Law) maintains a database of Supreme Court cases. In its database, a case is considered to have formally altered existing Court precedent if at least one of the following applies to the case:[7]
- The majority opinion of the Court explicitly references a previous case and overturns its precedent;
- A dissent contains persuasive evidence that the opinion of the Court, despite not mentioning overturned precedent, has overruled a previous precedent set by the Court;
- If the Court, in a later decision, references an earlier decision that the Court made, and states that said earlier decision was a case overturning precedent, that earlier case will be marked as altering precedent;
- Or, the majority opinion mentions precedent and states that it "disapproved" of the decision, or that the precedent is "no longer good law."
The following table details for each term of The Roberts Court how many and which cases were found to formally alter precedent:[8]
Note that the WashU Law database does not state how many precedents were overturned with each decision. As such, a case listed as altering a precedent may have affected multiple precedents.
Additionally, if the Court only distinguished a precedent, it was not classified as a precedent-altering case. Distinguishing a precedent involves clarifying a previous precedent rather than changing it.[7]
SCOTUS case reversal rates
From 2007 to the most recently completed term, the Supreme Court of the United States released opinions in 1,250 cases, averaging 73.5 cases per year. During that period, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision 891 times (71.3 percent) and affirmed a lower court decision 347 times (27.8 percent). The vast majority of cases heard by the high court originate in a lower court, such as the 13 appellate circuit courts, state-level courts, and federal district courts. Between 2007 and 2023, the high court decided more cases originating from the Ninth Circuit (243) than from any other circuit.
For more historical term data, click here.
Active justices
- See also: Supreme Court of the United States
| Judge | Born | Home | Appointed by | Active | Preceeded | Law school | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Associate justice Samuel Alito | April 1, 1950 | Trenton, N.J. | W. Bush | January 31, 2006 - Present | Sandra Day O'Connor | Yale Law School, 1975 |
 | Chief justice John Roberts | January 27, 1955 | Buffalo, N.Y. | W. Bush | September 29, 2005 - Present | William Rehnquist | Harvard Law, 1979 |
 | Associate justice Clarence Thomas | June 23, 1948 | Savannah, Ga. | H.W. Bush | July 1, 1991 - Present | Thurgood Marshall | Yale Law School, 1974 |
 | Associate justice Elena Kagan | April 28, 1960 | New York, N.Y. | Obama | August 7, 2010 - Present | John Paul Stevens | Harvard Law School, J.D., 1986 |
 | Associate justice Sonia Sotomayor | June 25, 1954 | New York, N.Y. | Obama | August 6, 2009 - Present | David Souter | Yale Law School, 1979 |
 | Associate justice Neil Gorsuch | August 29, 1967 | Denver, Colo. | Trump | April 10, 2017 - Present | Antonin Scalia | Harvard Law School, 1991 |
 | Associate justice Brett Kavanaugh | February 12, 1965 | Washington, D.C. | Trump | October 6, 2018 - Present | Anthony Kennedy | Yale Law School, 1990 |
 | Associate justice Amy Coney Barrett | 1972 | New Orleans, La. | Trump | October 26, 2020 - Present | Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Notre Dame Law School, 1997 |
 | Associate justice Ketanji Brown Jackson | September 14, 1970 | Washington, D.C. | Biden | June 30, 2022 - Present | Stephen Breyer | Harvard Law School, 1996 |
Case history
2025-2026 term
In the 2025-2026 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 62 cases. Click here for more information.
2024-2025 term
In the 2024-2025 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 62 cases. Click here for more information.
2023-2024 term
In the 2023-2024 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 62 cases. Click here for more information.
2022-2023 term
In the 2022-2023 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 60 cases. Click here for more information.
2021-2022 term
In the 2021-2022 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 68 cases. Click here for more information.
2020-2021 term
In the 2020-2021 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 62 cases. Click here for more information.
2019-2020 term
In the 2019-2020 term, the court agreed to consider 74 cases. Click here for more information.
2018-2019 term
In the 2018-2019 term, SCOTUS agreed to consider 75 cases. The court heard oral argument in 72 cases and decided three cases without argument. Click here for more information.
2017-2018 term
In the 2017-2018 term, SCOTUS agreed to hear 71 cases. Ultimately, the justices heard argument in 69 of those cases. Click here for more information.
2016-2017 term
In the 2016-2017 term, SCOTUS agreed to hear 71 cases. Click here for more information.
The court delivered 61 opinions.
- Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, and Kennedy, wrote the most opinions—eight each.
- Justices Alito, Kagan, Sotomayor, and Thomas each wrote seven opinions.
- Justice Gorsuch wrote one opinion.
The court delivered eight per curiam opinions.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The New York Times, "On Language; Potus and Flotus," October 12, 1997
- ↑ SupremeCourt.gov, "The Supreme Court at Work: The Term and Caseload," accessed January 24, 2022
- ↑ Consolidated cases are counted as one case for purposes of this number.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, "Supreme Court Procedures," accessed January 24, 2022
- ↑ Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, "Understanding the Federal Courts," accessed January 24, 2022
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "The Court and Its Procedures," accessed January 24, 2022
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Washington University Law, "Online Code Book - Formal Alteration of Precedent," accessed March 18, 2025
- ↑ Washington University Law, "2024 Supreme Court Database, Version 2024 Release 1," October 1, 2024
