Supreme Court Observer
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Supreme Court Observer is a living archive of the Supreme Court of India. Subscribe to this channel for legal updates and incisive journalism on the Court.
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Good morning 🌞

🗃️ As the year closes, pendency has inched closer to 91000 cases. The backlog grew by 444 cases in November, reaching 90,694. Read more: http://bit.ly/4oYSMuK

💉 In our latest desk brief, we cover a recent case that puts the Supreme Court’s 2018 passive euthanasia guidelines to their first real test. The Court will likely hear arguments on whether feeding tubes constitute ‘life-supporting treatment’. More: https://bit.ly/3MOAChV

👟On 14 November, a two-judge Bench dismissed an appeal filed by Bata and the other defendants against shoe company Crocs. By doing so, the Supreme Court missed an
opportunity to clarify a key question of design and trademark law. Read: https://bit.ly/3YvhI22
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☀️ Good Morning

🏥 Recently, the Supreme Court heard a passive euthanasia case from a patient in a permanent vegetative state. The Court will determine what constitutes “life-supporting treatment” in the context of passive euthanasia: https://bit.ly/4pbblMq

⚖️ In our latest commentary, Douglas McDonald-Norman and Arun K. Thiruvengadam write about the Tribunal Reforms judgement. They cover a brief history of the Union’s repeated attempts to change the tribunals law—and how the Court has addressed this executive creep: https://bit.ly/4qfjVdG

📰 Vol 12 Issue 4 of SCO.LR is out, featuring key judgements on leading questions in cross-examination, arbitration, endangered species and more: https://bit.ly/4jk0ZbK
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Good Morning 🌅

⚖️ Public-spirited advocate Manohar Lal Sharma died on 19 December. We look at what his career tells us about the Supreme Court: https://bit.ly/4pS7tkm

🗃️ As the year ends, pendency has inched closer to 91,000 cases. The backlog grew by 444 cases in November, reaching 90,694. Our report: http://bit.ly/4oYSMuK

👨🏻‍⚖️ In the latest edition of SCOLR, we cover five key judgements of the Supreme Court from last week: https://bit.ly/4jk0ZbK
🌇 Good Morning

👨🏻‍⚖️ We kicked off our 2025 year-ender series with a review of the Court's notable verdicts on bail: https://bit.ly/3KQvbyq

⚖️ What the career of advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, who died last week, tells us about the Supreme Court: https://bit.ly/4pS7tkm

🗃️ In November 2025, pendency inched closer to 91000. How did the Court get here? More: http://bit.ly/4oYSMuK
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🍃 Good Morning!

👨🏻‍⚖️ Commentary: A brief history of the Union’s repeated attempts to change the tribunals law—and how the Court has addressed this executive creep. Read more: https://bit.ly/4qfjVdG

⚖️ In the first of our year-ender review articles, we highlight notable SC verdicts that walked the tightrope of jail and bail: https://bit.ly/3KQvbyq

🗣️ How much discretion does the Speaker have in the judicial impeachment process? We explore the question through the lens of two recent motions: https://bit.ly/3L58aYx
☀️Good morning

👨🏻‍⚖️“The Year of Three Chiefs”- From rising pendency to fewer Constitution Benches, reporter Namrata Banerjee looks back at the Supreme Court's 2025. Read the desk brief here: https://bit.ly/4jnlww8

⚖️ It's the season for our thematic year-ender reviews. Here are the ones we've published so far:

Bail: https://bit.ly/3KQvbyq

Democracy and governance: https://bit.ly/3LeGPDb

Constitution Bench decisions: https://bit.ly/3Nm7VsE

Collegium: https://bit.ly/4qssVfN

Freedom of speech: https://bit.ly/4qoUSVD
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🌲Good morning!

🔟 In 2025, the Supreme Court delivered 1426 judgements. In our year-end list, we selected 10 verdicts that are already considered as ‘landmark’ or are likely to be in the years to come. Read more: https://bit.ly/49tzJEd

📰 The latest edition of SCO.LR is out featuring judgements on cheque bounce cases, renewal of passports, reservation and more: https://bit.ly/3YhzTrW

🎉 With this issue, our SCO.LR page now hosts 250 judgements from 2025. Access them here: https://bit.ly/4jhZYAN

⚖️ Check out our thematic year-end reviews:

Bail: https://bit.ly/3KQvbyq

Democracy and governance: https://bit.ly/3LeGPDb

Constitution Bench decisions: https://bit.ly/3Nm7VsE

Collegium: https://bit.ly/4qssVfN

Freedom of speech: https://bit.ly/4qoUSVD
🏙️ Good Morning!

🔟 For our year-end series, we have selected 10 verdicts that are already considered as ‘landmark’ or are likely to be in the years to come. Top 10 verdicts of 2025: https://bit.ly/49tzJEd

📰 The latest edition of SCO.LR is out: featuring judgements on cheque bounce cases, renewal of passports, reservation and more: https://bit.ly/3YhzTrW

🎉 This year, under the SCO.LR banner, we covered 250 judgements. Full list: https://bit.ly/4jhZYAN

👩🏽‍⚖️ Have you had a chance to go through our thematic year-end reviews?

Bail: https://bit.ly/3KQvbyq

Democracy and governance: https://bit.ly/3LeGPDb

Constitution Bench decisions: https://bit.ly/3Nm7VsE

Collegium: https://bit.ly/4qssVfN

Freedom of speech: https://bit.ly/4qoUSVD

Environment: https://bit.ly/4siIbxB
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🗓️ Good Morning!

⚖️ On 29 December, the SC stayed the operation of a Delhi High Court order which had suspended the life sentence awarded to Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a former MLA of the Bharatiya Janta Party, in the Unnao rape case. Hearing report: https://bit.ly/3N2onOP

👨🏻‍⚖️ Have you read our thematic year-enders?
Top 10 verdicts: https://bit.ly/49tzJEd
Bail: https://bit.ly/3KQvbyq
Governance: https://bit.ly/3LeGPDb
Constitution Benches: https://bit.ly/3Nm7VsE
Collegium: https://bit.ly/4qssVfN
Freedom of speech: https://bit.ly/4qoUSVD
Environment: https://bit.ly/4siIbxB

🗃️ From rising pendency to fewer Constitution Benches: our latest newsletter looks back at the 'year of the three CJIs'. Read here: https://bit.ly/4jnlww8
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🌅 Good Morning

⚖️ Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, stating that continued detention is not “constitutionally impermissible”. Our hearing report: https://bit.ly/3N75VVl

5️⃣ The Court granted bail to five others accused in the 2020 Delhi Riots case, stating that they were on a separate footing compared to Khalid and Imam. We summarise the 142-page judgement: https://bit.ly/4pJqTHz

📰 In our latest edition of the Supreme Court Observer Law Reports, we list five bonus judgements from December 2025. Read here: https://bit.ly/49n2y41
🌞Good Morning!

🗳️ On Day 21 of the challenge to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the ECI defended its power to verify citizenship. Hearing report: https://bit.ly/4aP6Pja

⚠️ Yesterday, the Court said it would not grant "long adjournments" in the Delhi-NCR air pollution matter. It directed the Commission for Air Quality Management to identify causes for the continuing deterioration in air quality. Hearing report: https://bit.ly/4pu1bXh

🕰️ A new SOP caps the length of written submissions to five pages. It also requires lawyers to file a note, at least a day prior to the hearing, on how much time they will take for oral arguments. Our desk brief: https://bit.ly/49q3aGa
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🌞 Good Morning!

🗳️ Today the Court will continue hearing the challenge to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. Previously, ECI argued that the Constitution places citizenship at the centre of the right to vote: https://bit.ly/4aP6Pja

👨‍⚖The Court will also continue hearing Justice Yashwant Varma’s petition challenging the constitution of an inquiry committee set up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, in connection with the impeachment proceedings against him. Yesterdays report: https://bit.ly/4jyxfb6

🕰️ Recently, the Supreme Court Registry issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) mandating all arguing counsel file written submissions at least three days prior to the hearing. The new SOP caps the length of written submissions to five pages. Our desk brief: https://bit.ly/49q3aGa
🌄 Good Morning

📋"By denying bail to Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, the Supreme Court could have precipitated a doctrinal shift with implications for undertrials", writes Advocate Sarthak Gupta. Read his commentary on the Umar Khalid Bail case: https://bit.ly/3N83Ok9

⚖️ Yesterday, the Court reserved judgement in Justice Yashwant Varma's petition in connection with the impeachment proceedings against him. Counsel debated whether coequal Houses can take divergent decisions on identical impeachment motions. Read the hearing report: https://bit.ly/4qJCxTo

👨🏽‍⚖ A recent remark by the CJI suggests judicial hierarchy begins to fray when resources, urgency and influence determine access to justice. Read the analysis here: https://bit.ly/3LsmyKr
🌇 Good Morning!

This winter, the Supreme Court delivered an advisory opinion in a rare Presidential Reference, two Constitution Bench judgements and saw a new Chief Justice. All highlights in our 2025 Winter Session Review: http://bit.ly/49xKJiG

📋 In our latest commentary, Advocate Sarthak Gupta argues that the Umar Khalid bail judgement is “not heightened scrutiny but contextual dilution”. Read more: https://bit.ly/3N83Ok9:

Last week, the Court reserved judgement in Justice Yashwant Varma’s petition challenging his impeachment proceedings. Counsel debated whether coequal Houses could take divergent decisions on identical impeachment motions. More: https://bit.ly/4qJCxTo
🌇 Good Morning!

📋 In our newsletter, we examine how the Supreme Court’s legal reasoning in the Umar Khalid judgement has been analysed in media commentaries: https://bit.ly/4aX10Ai

🗂 The latest issue of SCO.LR is out, covering judgements on legislation in tax matters, right to speedy trial under Article 21, modification of admission policy and more: https://bit.ly/49iPcqF

In Justice Yashwant Varma’s impeachment case, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that there was no documentary evidence to support the allegations of corruption against Justice Varma: https://bit.ly/4qJCxTo
🪁 Good Morning!

📱 The controversy over AI-generated images by Grok—a tool by X (formerly Twitter) has raised questions on intermediary liability in the age of AI. More: https://bit.ly/3Z9hXA7

🗳️ Yesterday, the ECI reiterated that it has been vested with the power to decide questions concerning citizenship. Report: https://bit.ly/3ZbErk1

📋 In our newsletter, we look at how media commentaries have broken down the Umar Khalid bail judgement: https://bit.ly/4aX10Ai

📬 Don’t miss the latest Issue of SCO.LR which lists five key judgements from the first week of Jan 2026: https://bit.ly/49iPcqF
🌄 Good Morning!

🤳 Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued notice to X (formerly Twitter) due to the rise of explicit and non-consensual AI-generated images attributed to Grok—a generative AI chatbot developed by the platform. Read more: https://bit.ly/3Z9hXA7

🗳️ Today, the Court is scheduled to continue hearing the Bihar SIR challenge. Previously, the ECI argued that a holistic interpretation of the law conferred powers to the Commission to evaluate citizenship. Report: https://bit.ly/3ZbErk1

📬 In our latest issue of SCO.LR, we highlight five key judgements from the first week of Jan 2026: https://bit.ly/49iPcqF
🌇 Good Morning!

🗳️ On Day 23 in the Bihar SIR hearings, Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that the petitions do not challenge the exclusion of non-citizens from the rolls but the ECI’s authority in determining citizenship. Hearing report: https://bit.ly/4qVVFhc

📱 A recent notice issued by the IT Ministry against the AI chatbot Grok raises the question: can AI-owning platforms invoke legal protections designed for digital intermediaries? Read: https://bit.ly/3Z9hXA7

🗂 The latest issue of SCO.LR is out, covering judgements on legislation in tax matters, the right to speedy trial, modification of admission policy, and more: https://bit.ly/49iPcqF
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🌇 Good Morning!

⚖️ On 16 January, the Supreme Court dismissed Justice Yashwant Varma’s challenge against the Inquiry Committee and held that the Judges (Inquiry) Act cannot be interpreted to obstruct proceedings investigating a judge: https://bit.ly/4r3v2XR

🗳️ On Day 23 in the Bihar SIR hearings, counsel for the ECI argued that petitioners and political parties should encourage voter turnout instead of challenging the ECI: https://bit.ly/4qVVFhc

📝 In the final piece for our thematic reviews for 2025, we write about the Court’s minimal judicial interference approach in arbitration cases: https://bit.ly/4pK2Ho8
🌞 Good Morning!

⚖️ On 15 January, the Supreme Court passed an interim order on the recent conflict between the ED and State of West Bengal. The case forces the Court to confront federalism’s breaking points: https://bit.ly/3LRNUKk

👩🏻‍⚖️ In our newsletter, we examine the Court’s split verdict on the constitutionality of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988: https://bit.ly/45U3hZt

🗳️ Today the Court will continue hearing the Bihar SIR challenge. Our report on the previous hearing: https://bit.ly/4qVVFhc

📝 The latest issue of SCO.LR features five important judgements from last week: https://bit.ly/4jNcecX
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🌞 Good Morning!

🗳️ Yesterday, the Election Commission submitted that a high probative value was assigned to the 2002 voter rolls. The Court will continue hearing the challenge to the Bihar SIR today. Our report: https://bit.ly/3NvUXZF

⚖️ The Enforcement Directorate recently alleged interference and reprisals by authorities in West Bengal. Our analysis of the Court's interim order: https://bit.ly/3LRNUKk

🗞️ Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan delivered a split verdict on the constitutionality of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Our newsletter: https://bit.ly/45U3hZt