192. "One First" Turns Three!
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Shadow docket
14 min read
The article explicitly references 'The Shadow Docket' book and the 'don't call it the shadow docket' docket as central to understanding the Court's changing behavior. This Wikipedia article explains the procedural mechanism that has become increasingly controversial.
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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
15 min read
The article mentions Justice Jackson's intervention in 'the SNAP case' as a major example of the newsletter's impact. Understanding SNAP provides essential context for why this Supreme Court intervention generated such public interest.
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Judicial independence
15 min read
The article discusses Justice Alito's claim that Congress cannot regulate the Supreme Court and the Court 'turning its back on accountability.' This Wikipedia article provides the theoretical framework for understanding debates about court independence versus accountability.
Welcome back to “One First,” a newsletter that aims to make the U.S. Supreme Court more accessible to lawyers and non-lawyers alike. I’m grateful to all of you for your continued support, and I hope that you’ll consider sharing some of what we’re doing with your networks:
The First Three Years of One First
Three years ago today, “One First” went live. Although I do the bulk of the writing, the reality is that this entire operation was actually the brainchild of my wife, Karen. After I finished writing The Shadow Docket in 2022, Karen felt strongly that I needed to be one of the voices out there trying to explain Supreme Court decisions and procedure at a more widely accessible (and more frequent) level. So we spent a bunch of nights after our two daughters went to sleep brainstorming how to pull that off. Karen eventually suggested a periodic newsletter—and, as usual, she was right.
A lot has changed in our lives since then. First, for those who have been following us for a while, we left Texas in 2024 to return back to D.C., where I joined the faculty at Georgetown Law last summer. Karen has continued to thrive professionally, launching Risepoint Search Partners—a legal recruiting firm—at roughly the same time. The newsletter has, ironically, been a constant even as we’ve embarked upon these exciting life changes.
I’ve also been trying to think through other ways of pursuing the same goal of raising the level of public understanding and discourse relating to the Supreme Court—from launching a TikTok to signing on to write a second book about the Court, this time with Viking, which will take a more macro look at the Court, including how we got to where we are today; and how (and why) we should fix it.
And last, our two daughters, who at the time of the launch still seemed so very young, are growing into awesome tweens who make us laugh—and keep us on our toes—every day. Indeed, our younger daughter Sydney remarked the other day that “I can’t believe people actually read that thing” (meaning this newsletter). There’s nothing like young kids—especially daughters—to keep you humble.
Of course, there’s been even more upheaval out in the world—especially
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.