SCOTUStoday for Tuesday, October 21 – SCOTUSblog

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It’s not every day that the phrase “habitual drunkards” appears in a SCOTUSblog story. Keep reading to understand why it plays a role in the court’s new Second Amendment case.
Perhaps few legal concepts are quite as controversial as the unitary executive theory. Put simply, this theory refers to the claim that the Constitution gives the president “sole authority over the executive branch,” including sole authority over the removal of executive branch officials. Although proponents of the unitary executive theory argue that this is justified on multiple grounds, one major textual source is the Constitution’s vesting clause, which states that “[t]he executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States.” These words are read to support the notion that the president, and the president alone, is in charge of the executive branch.
The unitary executive theory has been in the spotlight for much of this year, as President Donald Trump has moved to remove the heads of federal agencies, and the Supreme Court has – with one notable, but potentially temporary, exception – allowed the removals to proceed.
This term, the court is expected to directly address the unitary executive theory in Trump v. Slaughter, a case that asks whether the court should overturn 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which allowed Congress to limit the president’s authority to fire executive officials. The case stems from Trump’s effort to remove Rebecca Slaughter, a former member of the Federal Trade Commission. At least for now, Slaughter is not serving in that role, because the court on Sept. 22 cleared the way for her removal.
Many court watchers believe the conservative majority will use the unitary executive theory to justify overturning Humphrey’s Executor, based on the idea that this is supported by a textualist and originalist understanding of the constitution.
That said, not all originalists agree. Caleb Nelson, a law professor and former law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, recently argued against the unitary executive theory on originalist grounds. Nelson’s essay is particularly interesting because his work “has been cited in more than a dozen Supreme Court opinions, including ones by every member of the six-justice conservative majority,” according to The New York Times.
“Admittedly, some high school students (including those who use drugs) are dumb.”
— Justice John Paul Stevens in Morse v. Frederick
Court Agrees to Hear Additional Case on Gun Rights
The court on Monday morning announced three additions to its docket for the 2025-26 term. Among the cases is a dispute over a federal statute that prohibits gun possession by users of illegal drugs. In asking the justices to allow the government to enforce that statute, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer acknowledged the importance of the Second Amendment but contended that drug use creates one of the “narrow circumstances in which the government may justifiably burden that right.” He described the law as “a modest, modern analogue” to founding-era restrictions on “habitual drunkards,” as Amy wrote in her analysis of Monday’s order list.
National Guard in Illinois
Lawyers representing the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago urged the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon to leave in place a ruling by a federal judge that prohibits the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Illinois. Illinois Solicitor General Jane Notz told the justices that “the unnecessary deployment of military troops, untrained for local policing, will escalate tensions and undermine the ordinary law enforcement activities of state and local entities, which would need to divert resources to maintain safety and order.” Learn more about the filing by reading Amy’s analysis.
Supreme Court Clerks and Networks of Power
In his latest Empirical SCOTUS column, Adam Feldman explored the “clerkship universe,” analyzing how long it takes to move from graduating law school to clerking at the Supreme Court, which justices are most likely to hire clerks who previously worked for a judge from the opposite party, where former clerks go when their clerkship is over, and how clerkship patterns are changing over time.
Kelsey Dallas is SCOTUSblog's managing editor and the primary author of the SCOTUStoday newsletter.
Recommended Citation: Kelsey Dallas, SCOTUStoday for Tuesday, October 21, SCOTUSblog (Oct. 21, 2025, 9:00 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/scotustoday-for-tuesday-october-21/
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