Lower court clashes with the Supreme Court are exploding

Published January 1, 2026 5:00am ET



The Supreme Court and lower federal courts had many clashes in 2025, highlighting tensions between federal judges and the courts above them.

In an eventful year in the courts, the record number of stays the Supreme Court granted on its emergency docket fueled clashes between the high court and lower courts in hotly contested legal disputes, mostly over Trump administration policies and actions.

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