This is not really due to political balance as much as wanting to respect the standard escalation process and maintain decorum. They would rather that lower judges give proper justified rulings rather than spit out binding decisions on a whim without oral arguments, unless there's really an emergency.

Absolutely nothing about how the Supreme Court works nowadays has respect for standard process or decorum. It's merely a shield to hide behind when it's convenient, to be ignored when it's useful.

Bush and Obama filed 8 emergency applications across their presidencies (16 years.)

The first Trump admin filed 41.

Biden filed 19.

The second Trump admin filed 32 in 2025 alone.