This Note explores how the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket,” its set of decisions made outside the full merits process, has increasingly shaped LGBTQIA+ rights. It focuses on three key tools: writs of certiorari, summary dispositions, and emergency relief. This Note argues that, although summary dispositions have had limited positive impact, certiorari decisions often entrench legal fragmentation, while emergency relief, with its emphasis on “irreparable harm” and the “status quo,” systematically disadvantages LGBTQIA+ litigants. In doing so, the Note sheds light on how ostensibly procedural rulings are quietly but powerfully shaping constitutional protections.

Keep Reading Closeted Decisions: The Silent Impact of the Shadow Docket On LGBTQIA+ Communities