Justice Kavanaugh defends Supreme Court's handling of emergency Trump cases

Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended how the Supreme Court has handled an increasing number of emergency cases brought by the Trump administration, pushing back against the criticism that the justices are failing to explain themselves.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday defended how the Supreme Court has handled an increasing number of emergency cases brought by the Trump administration, pushing back against the criticism that the justices are failing to explain themselves.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, his lawyers have frequently asked the court to intervene when lower courts have blocked executive actions on issues such as his hard-line immigration policies and efforts to fire federal employees.

The cases are brought on an emergency basis, through the court's so-called "shadow docket," and the court often decides them quickly, mostly in favor of the government, without full briefings or oral arguments, and sometimes with little or no explanation.

But Kavanaugh, speaking at a conference attended by judges and lawyers in Kansas City, said the court takes the cases seriously and has made efforts to give them the attention they deserve.

Kavanaugh conceded that it is "not a trivial question" whether a president's policy can go into effect while litigation continues, but he added that the court does not want to signal that what is a preliminary assessment of the legal merits is the final word on the issue.