On Monday, October 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will open its annual October Term, with its first oral argument scheduled for 10 am. The "First Monday in October" has marked the start of the Supreme Court’s new year of work since 1916. The first case of the new Term, Suncor Energy (USA) Inc. v. Commissioners of Boulder County, involves liability for injuries caused by climate change. A livestream of oral argument audio will be provided on the Court's website. (One voice you won't hear on the audio during Suncor is Justice Samuel Alito; the clerk of the Court announced the justice’s decision to recuse in a one-sentence announcement on Monday.)
Other petitions already granted for this Term address a number of hot-button topics, such as a state citizenship requirements for voter registration in Arizona; sex discrimination suits against federally funded educational institutions; Second Amendment cases concerning ownership of semiautomatic rifles; and state laws on parental notification of gender-affirming care for minors. To learn more about individual cases on the Court's docket this year, SCOTUSblog offers quick access to case information and filings on its October Term 2026 page, organized by argument date. Oyez provides a similar overview of OT2026 cases, and will link to oral argument audio and opinions when they become available for each case. The ABA also publishes a regular Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases (available in HeinOnline; Duke NetID required) that provides an overview as well as legal analysis of each featured case. (The first Preview issue of the new Term is available now, and includes a preview of Suncor as well as other cases from the October sitting.)
Keep up with the latest developments at One First Street throughout the year by following SCOTUSblog, Oyez, and the ABA Preview. For more news of the Court, United States Law Week (online in Bloomberg Law) provides a weekly Supreme Court Today roundup on Mondays (view all). The general news publications available to the Duke Law community listed on Legal Databases & Links, such as The New York Times and the Washington Post, will also regularly report on the latest news at the Court.
For more information on the upcoming Term and practices of the U.S. Supreme Court, check out the resources linked in the library's research guide or Ask a Librarian.