The Supreme Court’s emergency order blocking former President Barack Obama’s signature clean energy initiative in 2016 came after a series of leaked internal memos among the justices that revealed a fight along ideological lines about whether to intervene.

The rare glimpse at the high court’s internal memos, obtained by the New York Times, showed Chief Justice John Roberts, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, urging the Supreme Court to block Obama’s effort, while liberal justices pushed back.

Roberts and the court’s conservatives were concerned not just with Obama’s policy itself, but with the possibility that the Clean Power Plan could reshape the power sector before the justices could fully review whether it was lawful, the newly revealed memos show.

«Absent a stay, the Clean Power Plan will cause (and is causing) substantial and irreversible reordering of the domestic power sector before this court has an opportunity to review its legality,» Roberts wrote in one of the memos published by the New York Times on Friday. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Supreme Court’s communications team Monday for comment on the leaks.

The push from Roberts came as the justices were considering what was viewed at the time as an unusual request on the emergency docket, sometimes called a «shadow docket,» from red states and outside groups to halt the Obama-era regulation, which aimed to cut carbon emissions over the next 25 years, before lower courts had fully weighed in, a step that the liberal justices warned would break from longstanding practice.

The emergency docket allows litigants to bypass typical court proceedings and seek immediate relief from the Supreme Court if lower courts block them through restraining orders or preliminary injunctions.

The Clean Power Plan would have involved the Obama Environmental Protection Agency regulating coal, oil and gas plants under the Clean Air Act. Roberts wrote that without the Supreme Court stepping in, «both the states and private industry will suffer irreparable harm from a rule that is — in my view — highly unlikely to survive.»

In another memo, Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, disagreed, saying «the unique nature of the relief sought in these applications gives me real pause.»

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Former President Barack Obama during a campaign event on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Justice Samuel Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, circulated a memo the same day as Kagan in which he agreed with Roberts.

«A failure to stay this rule threatens to render our ability to provide meaningful judicial review — and by extension, our institutional legitimacy — a nullity,» Alito wrote.

Within a matter of days, the justices temporarily blocked Obama’s Clean Power Plan 5-4 along ideological lines, effectively dealing it a death blow because Democrats would lose the White House later that year. The New York Times noted that the Obama White House dismissed the ruling at the time as a small hurdle but that «behind closed doors, officials were astonished that the court had intervened so quickly.»

The back-and-forth in the memos during the short period of time, from the end of January 2016 to Feb. 9, when the brief decision was issued, showed how fast the justices moved to weigh in on a major presidential action.

Jonathan Turley, law professor at George Washington University, wrote in an op-ed that the anonymous leak of the memos to the New York Times, the second leak of confidential material after the Dobbs opinion leak in 2022, was «clearly designed to wound some of its members.»

«For an institution that prides itself on its confidentiality and insularity, the court is looking increasingly porous and partisan in these leaks,» Turley wrote.

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Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks to the 2025 Supreme Court Fellows Program, on February 13, 2025, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.  (JACQUELYN MARTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The New York Times’ report highlighted that legal experts have long viewed the Clean Power Plan decision as one of the first examples of the Supreme Court using the emergency docket in a way that limits executive power over national policy.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, has been among the most vocal dissenters in emergency cases during President Donald Trump’s second term as the president frequently benefits from the fast-paced docket. Jackson is sometimes joined by her two liberal colleagues, Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissents, and emergency cases have often split 6-3 in favor of Trump.

Last week, Jackson aired her grievances in a different forum, blasting emergency docket decisions during a Yale Law School speech as rushed, «scratch-paper musings» that undermine the high court’s purpose.

«Given the real world facts that a stay request asks the court to consider, the court’s stay decisions can, at times, come across utterly irrational,» Jackson said. «We cannot expect the public to have faith in our judicial system if, without clear explanation, we consistently greenlight harmful acts.»

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Legal experts have attributed the heightened activity on the emergency docket to a rise in presidents attempting to shape national policy through through executive orders.

«[An increase in emergency motions] coincides with the rise of executive orders and other forms of unilateral executive action really as the primary form of lawmaking in our country with the disappearance of Congress, and that has posed enormous challenges for the court,» attorney Kannon Shanmugam said during a Federalist Society panel last fall.

Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s office for comment. 

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., delivered a high-energy, revival sermon-style speech at the Michigan Democratic Convention, shouting and gesturing as he urged Democrats to become «foot soldiers for democracy» and warned that «darkness and wind» are sweeping the nation.

Booker was one of several out-of-state leaders, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, to participate in the Michigan Democratic Convention. All three have been floated as possible contenders for the 2028 presidential election.

Booker spoke for roughly 25 minutes and at several points bellowed at the crowd, adopting a poetic cadence and word choice.

«Ladies and gentlemen, there is a storm in our nation,» Booker exclaimed, finishing his speech. «There is darkness and wind. People are getting hurt. What we need is not from on high. We need foot soldiers of our democracy who in times of trial, are willing to stand up.»

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Booker then announced that it was time for Democrats to «redeem the dream of America.»

«Will you stand for our democracy? Will you stand to get out the vote? Will you stand for our children? Will you stand up for our elders?» Booker said. «And will you stand together, unified, strong — be the hope that people need. We are Democrats. It’s time for a new deal. It’s time to redeem the dream of America.»

Booker, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, used the speech as an opportunity to introduce himself to Michigan voters, sharing his career in politics and his family ties to the Great Lakes State.

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At one point, he expressed his dismay with voters who opted out of voting for presidential candidates Hillary Clinton or Vice President Kamala Harris because they disagreed «on ten percent of her views.»

«Well, you may disagree with her on 10% of her views, but you let someone get in office who you disagree with on everything,» Booker railed. «You let somebody get in office who is locking up our children. You let somebody in office who’s taking away our health care. You let somebody in office who’s taken away workers rights. You let somebody in office who got rid of the Department of Education.»

He then suggested that Democratic voters in Michigan turn the Michigan hand — a reference to the state’s shape — into the «Michigan fist.»

Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during her «107 Days» book tour at the Ziff Ballet Opera House at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in downtown Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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«I don’t want the Michigan hand after your August primary, I want the Michigan fist,» Booker shouted. «I want you all to unite. I want you to punch a hole in the wall of resistance. I want you to grab a sledgehammer and knock some stuff down. I want you to reach up and grab somebody and get them off the couch and get him on the field. We got points to put on the board. I want that Michigan fist. I want some unity.»

However, former MSNBC commentator Medhi Hasan took issue with Booker’s assertion about Democratic voters who didn’t vote for Harris in 2024. Hasan said that Booker’s characterization places the blame on voters for a Democratic loss rather than the party platform.

Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg)

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«I tried to tell people who didn’t vote Dem in 2024 ‘to teach Democrats a lesson’ that sadly Democrats will never learn that lesson,» Hasan said on X, sharing a video of Booker speaking. «Here’s Booker simply attacking and mocking people who didn’t show up to vote Dem. It’s always the voters’ fault, never the Dems or their candidates.»

Other critics poked fun at Booker’s emphatic deliverance.

«Calm down, Spartacus,» wrote America First Works, a non-profit group and the advocacy arm of the America First Policy Institute.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker for comment.

Estados Unidos y Filipinas iniciaron el lunes uno de sus mayores ejercicios de combate conjuntos, en una nueva demostración de fuerza militar en Asia destinada a reforzar la disuasión frente a la creciente tensión regional. Las maniobras, denominadas Balikatan, reunirán a más de 17.000 militares durante casi tres semanas e incluirán simulacros de batalla y ejercicios con fuego real en zonas próximas al mar de China Meridional y al estrecho de Taiwán.

El operativo militar, cuyo nombre significa “hombro con hombro” en tagalo, incorporará este año la participación plena de Japón y Canadá, luego de que ambos países firmaran acuerdos de fuerzas visitantes con Manila, según informó el ejército filipino. Cerca de 10.000 efectivos estadounidenses tomarán parte en las maniobras, en un despliegue que funcionarios de Washington presentaron como una señal concreta del compromiso de Estados Unidos con la región del Indopacífico.

“Independientemente de los desafíos en otras partes del mundo, el enfoque de Estados Unidos en el Indopacífico y nuestro compromiso inquebrantable con Filipinas se mantiene firme”, afirmó el teniente general de la Infantería de Marina Christian Wortman durante la ceremonia de apertura.

El inicio de los ejercicios coincide con un contexto de alta tensión en Asia, especialmente por las disputas territoriales en el mar de China Meridional, una de las rutas comerciales más importantes del mundo. En esas aguas también mantienen reclamos Vietnam, Malasia, Brunéi y Taiwán, aunque en los últimos años los incidentes aumentaron de manera particular entre embarcaciones chinas y filipinas.

Desde Manila, las autoridades militares insistieron en que las maniobras no están dirigidas contra ningún país en particular. Sin embargo, el jefe del Estado Mayor de las Fuerzas Armadas filipinas, el general Romeo Brawner, remarcó el objetivo estratégico del operativo. “Seguimos guiados por un compromiso compartido de defender el derecho internacional, respetar la soberanía y contribuir a un Indopacífico libre y abierto donde las naciones puedan prosperar sin coerción”, sostuvo.

Brawner también señaló que los ejercicios multinacionales fortalecen la capacidad de disuasión y la resiliencia frente a eventuales agresiones en la región, en un mensaje que se produce tras repetidos choques entre fuerzas filipinas y unidades de la Marina y la Guardia Costera chinas.

El régimen chino cuestionó el despliegue y advirtió sobre el impacto de la presencia de fuerzas externas en Asia-Pacífico. En Beijing, el portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Guo Jiakun, sostuvo que la incorporación de contingentes extranjeros podría agravar la situación regional.

“El unilateralismo y la intimidación militar ya han generado profundos desastres al mundo”, afirmó el funcionario. “Lo que la región de Asia-Pacífico necesita más es paz y estabilidad, y lo que menos necesita es la introducción de fuerzas externas para crear división y confrontación”.

Durante el ejercicio, Japón desplegará 1.400 efectivos, su mayor contingente desde que participó previamente como observador. Según detalló el coronel de la Infantería de Marina filipina Dennis Hernandez, tropas japonesas dispararán misiles desde una zona costera de la provincia de Ilocos Norte contra un buque enemigo simulado ubicado a unos 40 kilómetros de distancia, en las periferias del mar de China Meridional.

Tras esa primera fase, fuerzas estadounidenses utilizarán un dron marino cargado con explosivos para continuar el ataque contra el objetivo naval, de acuerdo con la misma fuente.

Washington reiteró en varias ocasiones que su tratado de defensa con Filipinas continúa plenamente vigente y que Estados Unidos está obligado a responder en caso de un ataque armado contra fuerzas filipinas en aguas en disputa. Esa posición ya había sido expresada durante la visita a Manila del entonces secretario de Defensa estadounidense, Pete Hegseth.

“Los amigos necesitan estar hombro con hombro para disuadir el conflicto, para garantizar que haya libre navegación, ya sea que lo llamen mar de China Meridional o mar de Filipinas Occidental”, declaró Hegseth ante el presidente filipino Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

(Con información de Associated Press)