Good morning and welcome to Supreme Court Brief. The justices have 13 cases remaining to be decided, and more opinions are expected at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Missing from the term, especially this close to the end, have been opinion announcements from the bench. We look at what they contribute to our knowledge of the court. The University of Texas is the target of a third admissions challenge by the same mastermind who brought cases against the university to the Supreme Court in 2013 and 2016. We take a look. And Justice Amy Coney Barrett and justice-in-waiting Ketanji Brown Jackson are making the cover of their own comic books.

Thanks for reading. We welcome feedback and tips. Contact Marcia Coyle at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MarciaCoyle. 

Photo: Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

Silence of the Justices

The first of five potentially headline-grabbing decisions was handed down on Tuesday: Carson v. Makin, a 6-3 school funding ruling in which the justices divided along ideological lines. There were two strong dissenting opinions by justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, but neither of their voices was heard. Nor was the voice of the majority opinion author, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.

Although the justices came back on the bench for arguments in October, following their pandemic-related remote arguments, they have not returned to the traditional practice of announcing summaries of opinions from the bench. It seems unlikely that they will take to the bench in the closing weeks of this term.