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Tuesday, October 20, 2026

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Supreme Court · Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Supreme Court takes the home-still case and a school case

The File desk · Oct. 20, 2026, 6:44 a.m. ET

Confirmed2 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from the Court's order list for Monday, Oct. 19, which this desk read. The Court granted two cases, refused the Sept. 11 defendants' plea appeal, and affirmed one case because it lacked a quorum.
  • Confirmed
    The Court granted , on the federal ban on a liquor still in a home.
  • Confirmed
    The Court granted , limited to one question about school admissions.
  • Confirmed
    The Court denied . Justice Kavanaugh took no part. It also denied the companion petition of Walid bin 'Atash.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether the federal government may ban a liquor still in a home. It also agreed to hear a fight over admissions rules in Montgomery County, Maryland, schools, and it refused to revive plea deals for defendants in the Sept. 11 case.1
, No. 26-204, is granted. The question, from the Court's own sheet, is whether the ban on producing distilled spirits “in any dwelling house” or in a connected “shed, yard, or inclosure,” , is allowed under Congress's power to tax. The government says the ban protects collection of the liquor tax. The Fifth Circuit said Congress went too far, in conflict with a Sixth Circuit ruling that upheld the ban. The appeals case is No. 24-10760. The question sheet doesn't print a decision date.2
, No. 26-12, is granted on one question only: whether someone challenging an admissions policy that doesn't mention race must first show that the group was admitted at a lower rate than its share of the applicant pool. The order list doesn't name the schools. This story doesn't add them.1
, No. 26-13, is denied. Justice Kavanaugh took no part. Walid bin 'Atash's petition, No. 25-1335, is also denied. The defendants' petition says they signed plea agreements in July 2024 and that then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdrew from them. The D.C. Circuit sided with the government on July 11, 2025. Monday's denial leaves that ruling in place.3
Why it matters (Estimate). The still case is about a 160-year-old federal rule on making spirits at home. If the Court agrees with the Fifth Circuit, that federal ban could fall nationwide, and state laws would still apply. The school case will decide how hard it is to challenge an admissions rule that doesn't mention race but is accused of targeting a group. The Sept. 11 denial means the plea deals stay off the table, and the military-commission case goes on without them.23
In , No. 25-1391, the Court said it lacks a quorum under , because Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Barrett, and Jackson took no part, and it affirmed the lower court's judgment under . The order list is ten pages. That case is the one the Court could not hear.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.Supreme Court order list, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 (610 U.S.), read for this edition. https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/101926zor_q8l1.pdf “26-204 DEPT. OF JUSTICE, ET AL. V. SCOTT McNUTT, ET AL. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted.” “26-12 ASS'N FOR ED. FAIRNESS V. MONTGOMERY CTY. BD. ED., ET AL. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to the following question: Whether a plaintiff challenging a facially neutral admissions policy as racially discriminatory must establish that the targeted racial group suffered an aggregate disparate impact relative to its share of the applicant pool.” “26-13 MOHAMMAD, KHALID S., ET AL. V. UNITED STATES The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Justice Kavanaugh took no part.” “25-1335 bIN 'ATASH, WALID V. UNITED STATES” is in the denied list. “25-1391 BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT, ET AL. V. VETTER” : the Court “lacks a quorum, 28 U. S. C. §1,” and “the judgment is affirmed under 28 U. S. C. §2109.” Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Barrett, and Jackson took no part. Travis McMichael's denial is a separate crime brief.
  2. 2.Question presented, , No. 26-204, read for this edition. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/qp/26-00204qp.pdf The ban, “in any dwelling house” or “in any shed, yard, or inclosure connected with any dwelling house,” , has been “in effect for 160 years.” The Fifth Circuit held the location restrictions exceed Congress's powers, “in direct conflict with” the Sixth Circuit. Lower court No. 24-10760. Decision below 173 F.4th 204. The question sheet doesn't print an April 10, 2026 date. The politics desk recorded that date from a lower-court docket note. It isn't stated as a fact above. Montgomery County question is the order list's, not a separate sheet this desk quotes beyond the order.
  3. 3.Petition in , as summarized by the politics desk from https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26-13/412744/20260605145253276_Petition%20for%20Writ.pdf The petition says the defendants signed plea agreements in July 2024 and that Lloyd Austin withdrew from them. D.C. Circuit No. 25-1009, July 11, 2025, sided with the government. This pass read the order list, not the petition PDF. The plea history is the desk's morning read of that petition.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • The order list doesn't set argument dates. The next argument session begins Nov. 2.
  • The Montgomery County order doesn't name which schools or programs are in the case.
  • Statements from the Sept. 11 defendants' families weren't fetched.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Order list, Oct. 19, 2026

    Supreme Court of the United States · October 19, 2026

    The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted in and, on one question, in . The petition in is denied.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/101926zor_q8l1.pdf

  2. Source 2

    Question presented, No. 26-204

    Supreme Court of the United States · October 19, 2026

    Whether the prohibition on the production of distilled spirits in any dwelling house, 26 U.S.C. 5178(a)(1)(B), is necessary and proper to Congress's power to lay and collect taxes.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/qp/26-00204qp.pdf

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