Leaked SCOTUS memos show Chief Justice Roberts whipping votes to kill Obama's Clean Power Plan on the shadow docket

The Supreme Court Said It Was Neutral. Internal Memos Show Roberts Was Counting Votes.

The Clean Power Plan was the centerpiece of Obama's climate policy. In February 2016, before any appeals court had ruled on it, the Supreme Court issued an emergency stay — halting the entire regulation. The Court offered no explanation. No oral argument. No written opinion. That is the shadow docket.

What the Leaked Memos Show

The Daily Beast obtained what it describes as the first leak of internal Supreme Court deliberations. The memos show Chief Justice John Roberts actively working to build a five-justice majority to issue that stay. The Court froze a major federal regulation at the request of Republican state attorneys general — without the standard procedural gatekeeping that governs normal cert grants.

Kagan's Dissent, in Writing

Justice Elena Kagan wrote directly to Justice Breyer during the internal deliberations. Her words: "the unique nature of the relief sought gives me great pause." She was not objecting to the outcome of the case. She was objecting to the use of emergency shadow-docket procedure to achieve it — a tool designed for genuine emergencies, repurposed as a fast lane for politically favored outcomes.

Why It Matters

The shadow docket has no public record, no argument, no explanation. What these memos prove is that behind that silence, the Chief Justice was running a vote count. The Court's legitimacy rests on the appearance of deliberative neutrality. These documents are the first direct evidence of how that appearance is managed.