Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-312) and index.

"In The Shadow Docket, University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck offers a comprehensive analysis of the shadow docket, tracing its emergence in the 1970s in the wake of major court decisions on the death penalty and its recent embrace by a conservative-leaning Court that has expanded it to set policy on everything from election law to abortion to immigration. Yet while Republican appointees have been most enthusiastic in their use of the shadow docket, the docket itself is not partisan, and Vladeck makes the case that Americans of all political stripes have a stake in bringing the Court's decision-making processes back into the light. The Shadow Docket exposes a disturbing institutional crisis that threatens the foundations of our democracy, and calls for sweeping reform"--,Provided by the publisher.