A Grim Supreme Court Term Starts Today

SCOTUS kicks off its new term, and the cases on the docket once again have the potential to gut our constitutional rights and freedoms. At the center is Donald Trump and his depraved policies.

Today, the Supreme Court kicks off its new term, and the cases on the docket once again have the potential to gut our constitutional rights and freedoms. The main character this term? Donald Trump – who is asking the Court to greenlight his most depraved policies. There’s a good chance the MAGA justices on the Court will acquiesce, having spent last term and the summer granting Trump and his administration broad authority to: racially profile and detain immigrants, deport immigrants to countries they are not from nor have ever been to, sign and implement blatantly unconstitutional executive orders, and much more.

It is clear that these “wins” at the Supreme Court has emboldened Trump to aggressively pursue even more authoritarian tactics, including sending military personnel into Chicago to conduct violent immigration raids that resulted in the detention of literal toddlers, and threatening to send the National Guard into Portland and other American cities to battle our own citizens.

Here are the big cases we’re following so far at the Court this term, although we expect even more challenges to Trump’s attacks on our democracy over the course of the year. Unfortunately, as former Judge J. Michael Luttig (a George W. Bush appointee) told Politico, “The Supreme Court and the chief justice have given Americans zero reason to believe that they will slow this president in any way whatsoever.”

October 15 - Louisiana v. Callais

• This is a racial gerrymandering case involving the creation of a second Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana. Challengers are asking the Court to gut what remains of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act; Black voters argue that Louisiana’s current map (which has only one Black-majority district despite the state’s population being a third Black). Even before he became the Chief Justice, John Roberts had committed himself to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act. As Chief Justice, he has in fact undermined key provisions of the law with great enthusiasm, and rarely if ever rules in favor of preserving it.

November 5 - Learning Resources v. Trump

• This case is a challenge to the constitutionality of Trump’s disastrous tariff policy, which has significantly raised costs on all kinds of items, from groceries to clothing. The plaintiffs argue that the authority to impose tariffs of this magnitude lies with Congress, not through an executive order, which is what Trump did here. If Trump wins, this will be yet another significant blow to our constitutional separation of powers and would hand even more power to Trump to act unilaterally without Congressional intervention.

Not Yet Scheduled

Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. - These cases are the next baseless attacks on trans kids and their ability to play sports with their friends. At issue here is whether state restrictions on participation in girls’ and women’s sports violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. These lawsuits come on the heels of last term’s ruling in Skrmetti that upheld an anti-trans law in Tennessee that blocks trans children from receiving critical health care. A win for the right-wing states who continue to attack trans people will only further embolden hateful legislation against trans people and the LGBTQ+ community more broadly.

National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission - This case is a challenge to what remains of our campaign finance system. If the NRSC wins, wealthy donors will be able to legally coordinate with political parties and easily circumvent personal campaign contribution limits to candidates

Trump v. Slaughter - If Trump wins, it will be even easier for him to remove commissioners/board members of independent agencies (in this case, FTC commissioners), and could result in the overturning of Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a hallmark SCOTUS case that holds the president can only remove commissioners/board members for cause. The MAGA justices have already ruled in Trump’s favor in earlier cases allowing him broad authority to fire federal employees, and it appears likely they’ll continue that trend in this case as well.

Wolford v. Lopez - This case involves a new law from Hawaii that bans and criminalizes carrying a concealed handgun on private property without the owner’s express permission. In 2022, the Court ruled that states could not pass laws restricting guns unless there was a historically analogous restriction on firearms dating back to the drafting of the Second Amendment. In other words, unless states can show there was a similar firearm restriction from the 1700s, they cannot pass new restrictions on guns here in the 21st century. This Court, led by arch-conservative Clarence Thomas, has shown a great enthusiasm for gutting what few gun laws we have in this country, with disastrous effect on our communities.

The Supreme Court is poised to do a lot of damage to our freedoms, but we can fight back. You can get involved here.