When exactly did the shadow docket begin? People are now arguing about what was the first relevant shadow docket case, but those disagreements turn on stated and unstated assumptions. The answer depends on how you define the shadow docket. I need to give some more thought to exactly what the "shadow docket" is.
My colleague Stephanie Barclay suggests that the shadow docket actually began on New Year's Eve 2013 when Circuit Justice Sotomayor granted emergency relief to the Little Sisters of the Poor.
I wrote about this moment at some length in Chapter 15 of my 2016 book, Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power. I will include an excerpt of the book after the jump.
