Shadow docket Supreme Court decisions could affect millions

By GARY FIELDS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Traditionally, the process of getting an opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court takes months and those rulings are often narrowly tailored. But that pattern is changing with more decisions coming outside the court’s normal procedures. That has been especially true in the past two weeks with the truncated process known as the shadow docket moving at astronomical speed, producing decisions related to immigration, COVID-19 and evictions and abortion. Those three decisions, with the conservative wing of the court in the majority, have the potential to affect millions of people, in a fraction of the time and outside the normal scrutiny signed opinions can bring.