A review of the Supreme Court’s own public docket for Apple Inc. v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 25-1311, conducted on Sunday, September 13, 2026, shows nothing filed since Justice Kagan denied Apple’s stay application on August 13. Exactly one amicus brief has been filed in the case, and it went in back in June, before the Court had even agreed to hear it.
That makes today’s docket a useful baseline the day before Apple’s opening brief is due. Nothing here predicts what the brief will argue or how the case will turn out. It records what has and has not been filed in a dispute that runs on its own schedule, separate from Apple’s September announcements covering the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Duo, and separate from iOS 27, which ships the same Monday the brief is due.
Key facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Docket number | No. 25-1311 |
| Most recent entry | August 13, 2026, stay application denied |
| Days without a new filing | 31, as of September 13, 2026 |
| Amicus briefs filed to date | One, filed June 3, 2026 |
| Next filing due | Apple’s opening merits brief, September 14, 2026 |
The docket, entry by entry
| Date | Entry |
|---|---|
| Dec 11, 2025 | Ninth Circuit decision below |
| May 21, 2026 | Apple’s petition for certiorari filed |
| May 27, 2026 | Petition docketed |
| Jun 3, 2026 | Amicus brief filed, Computer & Communications Industry Association and others |
| Jun 4, 2026 | Epic’s brief in opposition filed |
| Jun 5, 2026 | Apple waived the 14-day waiting period |
| Jun 9, 2026 | Distributed for the June 25 conference; Apple’s reply filed |
| Jun 29, 2026 | Distributed for the June 29 conference |
| Jun 30, 2026 | Petition granted, limited to Question 1 |
| Jul 22-23, 2026 | Merits-brief extensions granted |
| Aug 12-13, 2026 | Stay application 26A194 administratively stayed, then denied |
The lone amicus brief, and why it is a different kind of filing
The Computer & Communications Industry Association’s brief, filed June 3, 2026, arrived before the Court had decided whether to hear the case at all. Amicus filings at that stage follow the Court’s rule for briefs tied to a certiorari petition, a separate track from the rule that governs briefs filed once a case is actually before the Court for argument. Nothing on the docket says whether that organization, or any other, intends to file again now that the case has been granted. A fresh amicus brief supporting Apple would follow the merits-stage rule instead, carrying its own 7-day deadline that starts once Apple’s brief on the merits is actually filed, a date this piece and the docket both put at September 21, 2026.
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What a quiet docket means, and does not mean
Thirty-one days without an entry is not unusual for a case sitting between a decided stay application and a scheduled merits brief. The docket simply had nothing due in that window. It does not indicate anything about how either side is preparing its arguments, and it is not evidence of a settlement, a delay, or a change in position by either party. It also is not evidence the case has slowed down relative to any other pending appeal; a scheduling gap like this one is ordinary between a resolved emergency application and a merits brief whose due date was set two months earlier. The only thing due next is what the docket already lists: Apple’s brief, tomorrow.
Why this check is worth repeating
A docket this quiet is easy to misread as a sign that a case has gone dormant, or conversely to over-read as evidence that something is about to happen. Neither reading holds up against what the docket actually shows: a fixed set of dates, agreed by the Court in July, that both sides are simply waiting on. Checking again after Monday will show whether Apple filed on schedule and, if the brief becomes public, what Question 1 arguments it actually makes. Checking again after September 21 will show whether any organization filed in support of Apple within the window that date closes.
What Apple has not said
- Whether it plans to file anything beyond the opening brief due Monday.
- Any comment on the single amicus brief filed in the case so far.
- Its position on Question 1 itself, ahead of the filing.
Today is Sunday, September 13, 2026. The next entry due on the docket is Apple’s opening brief, tomorrow. Checking the docket again Tuesday will show whether it was filed on schedule.
