MARK SHERMAN

Supreme Court and legal affairs

Sherman has covered the Supreme Court for The Associated Press since 2006. His journalism career spans five decades. He is based in Washington, D.C., and previously lived in New York, Paris and Atlanta.

The Supreme Court building is seen, June 27, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

A major question for the Supreme Court: Will it treat Trump as it did Biden?

A major question hangs over the Supreme Court’s closely watched case on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs: Will the conservative majority hold the Republican president to the same exacting standards it used to limit his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden?

The Supreme Court is seen in the distance, framed through columns of the U.S. Senate at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to allow it to fire head of US Copyright Office

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let fire the director of the U.S. Copyright Office.

The Supreme Court in Washington, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

How a 2018 Supreme Court decision paved the way for meteoric growth in legal sports betting

A 2018 Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates to the legalized sports-betting industry, now worth billions of dollars a year, even as it recognized that the decision was controversial.

Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow deployment of National Guard in Chicago area

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area, escalating President Donald Trump’s conflict with Democratic governors over using the military on U.S. soil.

Voting rights activists gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, early Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, as the justices prepare to take up a major Republican-led challenge to the Voting Rights Act, the centerpiece legislation of the Civil Rights Movement. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Supreme Court seems inclined to limit race-based electoral districts under the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court appears ready to gut a key tool of the Voting Rights Act that’s helped root out racial discrimination in voting for more than a half century.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones takes the witness stand to testify at the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., Sept. 22, 2022. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool, File)

Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones’ appeal of $1.4 billion defamation judgment in Sandy Hook shooting

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones says he knew the Supreme Court wouldn’t take up his request for an appeal of a $1.4 billion defamation judgment, even though his lawyers believed the case was “cut and dry.”

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts speaks during lecture to the Georgetown Law School graduating class of 2025, in Washington, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Supreme Court takes up Republican attack on Voting Rights Act in case over Black representation

A Republican attack on a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that’s designed to protect racial minorities comes to the Supreme Court this week, more than a decade after the justices knocked out another pillar of the 60-year-old law.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy poses for a portrait, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in his office at the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Retired Justice Kennedy laments coarse discourse of Trump era and its effects on the Supreme Court

Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy says he is troubled that partisanship seemed to be “creeping its way into the court,” and that the state of political discourse in the country has gotten so vulgar and vile that he worries for the country.

FILE — Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, July 2, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Supreme Court rejects appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein.

The Supreme Court in Washington, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The Supreme Court begins a term that will examine Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power

The Supreme Court has opened its new term. The court Monday rejected more than 800 pending appeals, including a challenge by Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned ex-girlfriend.

Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

New Supreme Court term confronts justices with Trump’s aggressive assertion of presidential power

A monumental Supreme Court term is set to begin with major tests of presidential power on the agenda.

The Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington on March 28, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Supreme Court lets Trump strip protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants

The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook listens during an open meeting of the Board of Governors, June 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Supreme Court lets Lisa Cook remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now

The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now. The court is declining to act on the Trump administration’s effort to immediately remove her.

The Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington on March 28, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Trump asks Supreme Court to uphold restrictions he wants to impose on birthright citizenship

President Donald Trump’s administration is asking the Supreme Court to uphold his birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily aren’t American citizens.

President Donald Trump, center, is escorted by Air Force Col. Christopher M. Robinson, commander of the 89th Airlift Wing, right, as he walks from Marine One to board Air Force One, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Supreme Court keeps in place Trump funding freeze that threatens billions of dollars in foreign aid

The Supreme Court is extending an order that allows President Donald Trump’s administration to keep frozen nearly $5 billion in foreign aid, handing him another victory in a dispute over presidential power.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve member Lisa Cook, speaks during a conversations with leaders from organizations that include nonprofits, small businesses, manufacturing, supply chain management, the hospitality industry, and the housing and education sectors at the Federal Reserve building, Sept. 23, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Greenspan, Bernanke and Yellen urge Supreme Court to let Lisa Cook keep her job as a Fed governor

Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and other former top economic officials appointed by presidents of both parties are urging the Supreme Court to preserve the Federal Reserve’s political independence and allow Lisa Cook to remain as a central bank governor for now.

The Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington on March 28, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strip legal protections from Venezuelan migrants

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for an emergency order allowing it to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.

President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump asks the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed board

President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh holds his personal pocket constitution as he speaks at The Ken Starr Lecture at McLennan Community College, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Kavanaugh says no one has too much power in US system. Critics see Supreme Court bowing to Trump

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh says the genius of the American system of government is that no one should have too much power.

Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

Turning Point USA founder shot and killed at Utah university

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, has been shot and killed at a Utah college event in an act that the state’s governor called a “political assassination.”

John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks during lecture to the Georgetown Law School graduating class of 2025, in Washington, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Chief Justice Roberts keeps in place Trump funding freeze that threatens billions in foreign aid

Chief Justice John Roberts is temporarily keeping in place the Trump administration’s decision to freeze nearly $5 billion in foreign aid.

John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks during lecture to the Georgetown Law School graduating class of 2025, in Washington, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Chief Justice Roberts keeps in place Trump funding freeze that threatens billions in foreign aid

Chief Justice John Roberts is temporarily keeping in place the Trump administration’s decision to freeze nearly $5 billion in foreign aid.

President Donald Trump speaks to the White House Religious Liberty Commission during an event at the Museum of the Bible, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump asks Supreme Court for emergency order to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for an emergency order to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press, prior to the release of her new book, "Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution," about her path to the high court and her approach to the Constitution, at the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In new memoir, Supreme Court Justice Barrett reflects on historic cases, is largely silent on Trump

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett says “violence or threats of violence” against judges shouldn’t be the cost of public service.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, on April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Trump says US would be on ‘brink of economic catastrophe’ unless justices rule his tariffs are legal

President Donald Trump says the country would be on “the brink of economic catastrophe” without the import taxes he’s imposed on U.S. rivals and allies alike.

The Louisiana state Capitol stands on April 4, 2023, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith, File)

Louisiana urges Supreme Court to bar use of race in redistricting, in attack on Voting Rights Act

Louisiana has abandoned its defense of a political map that elected two Black members of Congress and instead called on the Supreme Court to reject any consideration of race in redistricting in a case that could bring major changes to the Voting Rights Act.

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, center, attends a celebration of the first day of school at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Schools reopen in DC with parents anxious over Trump’s armed patrols

Public schools have reopened in the nation’s capital with parents on edge over the presence of thousands of National Guard troops, some armed, and federal law enforcement officers.

The Supreme Court in Washington, Oct. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Supreme Court allows Mississippi to require age verification on social media like Facebook and X

The Supreme Court has refused for now to block enforcement of a Mississippi law aimed at regulating the use of social media by children.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Justice Department files misconduct complaint against federal judge handling deportation case

The Justice Department has filed a misconduct complaint against the federal judge who has clashed with President Donald Trump’s administration over deportations to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

The Supreme Court in Washington, Oct. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

How views of the Supreme Court have changed since 2022 abortion ruling, according to AP-NORC polling

A new poll shows Americans’ views of the Supreme Court have moderated somewhat since the court’s standing dropped sharply after its ruling overturning Roe v.