There's a reason why Supreme Court reporters know never to take a vacation in June.

The end of this season's term brought us a head-spinning drumbeat of huge decisions all this week.

A five-to-four vote upholding the Trump administration's travel ban.

A five-to-four vote in the Janus case dealing a blow to organized

labor, a five to four vote citing with anti-abortion pregnancy centers, and a five-to-four

decision upholding Republican-drawn districts in Texas. And in news we're still processing, even as we record this introduction, Justice

Anthony Kennedy, frequently referred to as the swing vote on the court, is retiring. And that

means President Trump gets another appointment to the bench. It's another term-ending finale

from the branch of government we know the least about.

In 2015, we gathered some of the best minds on the beat to walk us through the deep and hazardous pitfalls of Supreme Court coverage

because the court basically does one of two things.

It either decides to hear a case and issue a big decision.

That happens about 70 times a year with several big decisions this week, or it decides not to hear a

case. That happens upward of 7,000 times a year. And as simple as that may seem, news organizations often confuse the two.

Frequently, you'll hear something along the lines of the Supreme Court affirmed or the Supreme Court

upheld when, in fact, it did nothing of the sort. That's Amy Howe of Scotis blog, the gold standard source for breaking court news.

It just left the lower court decision in place, and it doesn't have effect nationwide.

Right. Other appeals courts can take it up.

Exactly. The decision usually comes from a federal appeals court, and so it will be good law in that region of the country,

but it doesn't have any effect in other parts of the country unless and until those lower courts weigh in.

New York Times Court reporter Adam Liptok says that in some cases letting a decision stand can be very meaningful.

As in October a year ago, when the court let stand a bunch of rulings allowing same-sex marriage to expand across the country.

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