Supreme Court Seminar Course Webpage

Michael D. Ramsey

Professor of Law, University of San Diego Law School

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Supreme Court Seminar Fall 2026 Course Webpage

COURSE OVERVIEW

Class Meetings: Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00 pm to 2:20 pm

Office Hours: 9:30 to 11:30 am, Tuesday and Thursday

2:30 to 3:00 pm, Tuesday and Thursday

Textbook: There is no required text. Assignments will be made from materials available on-line or posted on this website.

INFORMATION REGARDING THE COURSE

This space will be used for announcements regarding class cancellations, make-ups, optional events of interest, and other updates regarding the course and the course schedule.

Reminder: no class meeting on Thursday, October 8.

Assignments for the long paper and the schedule for the long paper presentation are posted below.

Cert memos are due on September 22, 2026 at 12 pm. Cert presentations will take place September 22 and 24.

The class meeting on October 8, 2026, is cancelled. A revised schedule showing the cancellation is posted below.

Selection of long paper topics will take place on September 17 (Thursday). You must be present to participate in the selection.

The material for the first writing assignment (cert. memo directions and cert memo case assignments) is posted below.

A revised syllabus, including a revised course schedule, is posted below. The principal change, as noted in class, is that short papers will be due September 22 and short presentations will be on September 22 and September 24.

The basic requirements of the course are summarized here. A more complete description of the course is available in the course syllabus, available below.

There will be two writing assignments, explained in further detail in the “Overview” below. The first, a short memo (4-6 pages), will be due around the end of September, and will count 15% of the final grade for the class. The second, a significant paper (20-30 pages), will be due at the end of the semester, and will count 40% of the final grade.

During the semester students will make two in-class presentations on the subject of their writing assignments. These together will count for 25% of the final grade for the class.

In addition to the foregoing, students are expected to participate in discussions during class. Many of these discussions will include specific assigned topics. Participation in these discussions will count 20% of the final grade in the class.

Attendance is required (except for emergencies or valid excuses approved in advance) each of the presentation days. Failure to attend on required days will result in automatic reductions in the discussion part of the grade. Attendance is expected (although not graded per se) for other class meetings as well; failure to attend will be taken into account in awarding discussion grades, and moreover the topics discussed in class are directly relevant to the writing assignments.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

This space will be used to post assignments for each class meeting; these assignments will also be announced in class.

Assignment for Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Discussion topic: Other famous Justices

Discussion assignments are posted below.

Prepare a brief report on your assigned Justice.

Assignment for Thursday, October 1, 2026

Discussion topic: Chief Justices through history.

Discussion assignments are posted below.

Prepare a brief report on your assigned Chief Justice, which may include (as applicable): by whom appointed? Period of service? Major case or cases decided? Major events during Chief Justiceship? Things known for (if any)? Other matters of interest?

Assignment for Tuesday, September 29, 2026

No new discussion assignment. We will cover the office of Chief Justice (assigned previously)

Additional reading:

Stephen Wermiel, The rule of four and role of custom on the Supreme Court (SCOTUSblog, Sept. 24, 2026), available here.

Russell Wheeler, Is it time to rethink the office of the chief justice of the United States? (SCOTUSblog, Sept. 21, 2026), available here.

Assignment for Thursday, September 24, 2026

No additional assignment

Cert presentations will continue (schedule available below)

Assignment for Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Cert memos are due September 22 at 12 pm (submit by email)

Cert presentations begin September 22 (schedule available below)

No additional assignment

Assignment for Thursday, September 17, 2026

Discussion topic: The Office of Chief Justice

Briefly research the powers and duties of the Chief Justice and be prepared to share some of them in class. We will consider whether or not the Chief Justice is a powerful position.

No individualized discussion assignments.

We will begin with further discussion of Supreme Court reform, continued from the previous class meeting

Also we will select topics for the long paper. Cases for selection are available below.

Assignment for Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Discussion topic: Reforming the Court?

Discussion assignments are posted below.

Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, Final Report (2021), available here, pp. 67-84 (size of the Court), 111-128 (term limits), and 152-154 & 169-178 (supermajority rule)

Assignment for Thursday, September 10, 2026

Discussion topic: interim docket (part 3)

No further discussion assignments.

National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation, No. 26A203 (majority and dissent, focus on standing) (also look at docket)

National Constitution Center podcast (May 14, 2026), debate between Jonathan Adler and Stephen Vladeck, available here.

Ashleigh Maciolek, The Supreme Court Is Moving More Cases into the Shadows (Brennan Center, July 13, 2026), available here.

Trump v. CASA, Inc., No. 24A844 (Kavanaugh, concurring)

Assignment for Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Discussion topic: interim docket (part 2)

Discussion assignments are posted below.

Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, Final Report (2021), pp. 202-215, available here

Jack Goldsmith, Supreme Court Emergency Orders and Trump 2.0 (Executive Functions, Mar. 5, 2025)

Erwin Chemerinsky, Why the shadow docket should concern us all (SCOTUSblog, Aug. 4, 2025)

Alicia Bannon, Supreme Court Must Explain Why It Keeps Ruling in Trump’s Favor (Brennan Center, Aug. 14, 2025)

Josh Blackman, The Failed Lower Court Revolt (Civitas Outlook, Sept. 2, 2025)

Consider: what are the leading criticism of the interim docket and what are the responses? How, if at all, should the Court change its approach?

Also: look at the Application for one of the pending interim docket cases (easiest to access though the SCOTUSblog Cases/Interim Docket tabs) to see the format and style of argument.

Assignment for Thursday, September 3, 2026

Discussion topic: interim docket (introduction)

Discussion assignments are posted below

Find and read a short article on the interim docket.

Look at the SCOTUSblog website under “Interim Docket 2025” to get a sense of the kinds of cases on the interim docket.

Recommended: Amy Howe, Solicitor General Sauer’s SCOTUS tightrope (SCOTUSblog, September 1, 2026), available here.

Assignment for Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Discussion topic: alternatives to cert.

Discussion assignments are posted below.

(a) U.S Constitution, Article III, Sec. 2, para. 2.

(b) Find and read a short article on original jurisdiction. Identify a current or recent example.

(c) Find and read a short article on mandatory appellate jurisdiction in the Supreme Court. Identify a current or recent example.

Recommended: Nora Collins, The serious decline in petitions before the Supreme Court (SCOTUSblog, May 11, 2026), available here.

The instructions for the first writing assignment are posted below.

Assignment for Thursday, August 27, 2026

Discussion topic: the cert process (part 2)

Discussion assignments are posted below

Stewart Baker, A Practical Guide to Certiorari, pp. 611-621, available here

Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe, No. 24-856, petition for a writ of certiorari and response (skim, but with attention to format and principal arguments for and against certiorari)

Supreme Court filings for a case can be found by using the docket search function at the Supreme Court’s website, searching for the docket number.

Alternatively, for cases profiled on SCOTUSblog, the filings can be found by searching at SCOTUSblog on the case name and going to the SCOTUSblog page for that case.

Assignment for Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Discussion topic: the cert process (part 1)

Discussion assignments are posted below

SCOTUSblog: Explainer: the certiorari process

Rules of the Supreme Court, Rules 10 – 16

ABA Journal: How is certiorari pronounced?

Assignment for Thursday, August 20, 2026

Discussion topic: the lower courts (state and federal)

Discussion assignments posted below.

Assignment for first class meeting (August 18, 2026)

Read the U.S. Constitution, Article III, with attention to what it says (and does not say) about the U.S. Supreme Court and other U.S. federal courts.

Look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s website (https://www.supremecourt.gov/), especially the “about” tab.

Look at some other on-line resource to find some interesting facts about the Court to share in class.

COURSE DOWNLOADS

Syllabus (updated)

Revised schedule (as of 9/10)

Discussion assignments: the lower courts (for 8/20)

Discussion assignments: the cert process (for 8/25)

Discussion topics: the cert process, part 2 (for 8/27)

Discussion topics: alternatives to cert. (for 9/1)

Cert memo writing assignment: description and instructions

Cert memo writing assignment: case assignments (updated)

Cert memo presentation schedule (9/22 and 9/24)