On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued orders declining to hear two distinct cases involving judicial oversight and ethics. In the first matter, the Court refused to intervene in the case of the Charleston church shooter, who had sought to disqualify U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel from further proceedings. The shooter argued that the judge lacked impartiality, but the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case leaves in place an appeals court ruling that found no legal basis to remove Judge Gergel from the death-penalty case.

In a separate decision, the Court turned away an appeal from former Pennsylvania judge Mark Cohen. Cohen had challenged his 2024 suspension by the state’s judicial discipline board, which penalized him for making numerous partisan posts on Facebook. The posts in question included praise for Democratic figures such as President Biden and Governor Josh Shapiro. By declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court allowed the suspension to stand, effectively leaving the state's disciplinary findings regarding judicial ethics and free speech boundaries intact.

Separately, in an unrelated development regarding judicial staffing, three new judges—Justices Sunita Agarwal, Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, and Aparesh Kumar Singh—were appointed to the Supreme Court, bringing the court's working strength to 37 members. While the U.S. cases focus on the conduct and removal of sitting judges, the appointment news highlights the ongoing process of judicial expansion in other jurisdictions.