With the U.S. Supreme Court beginning its October Term 2024 in the coming weeks, we conduct our 40th annual review of the performance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the Supreme Court during the past term.

The Supreme Court's October Term 2023 was a consequential one. Although the court maintained its recent practice of hearing around 60 cases—the fewest since the 1860s—the court issued major decisions concerning presidential immunity; federal and state abortion laws; judicial deference to administrative agencies; federal firearm statutes; interactions between government officials and social media platforms; election law; and bankruptcy. While significant cases were divided along ideological lines, including the agency-deference and election-law cases, many were not, including the cases concerning federal laws governing firearms and abortion.