Looking Ahead to Fall Supreme Court Session
The U.S. Supreme Court ended its term and nobody retired or died within a week, so assuming the roster is the same for the October term and junkies are asking, “What’s next?”
Will Brett Kavanaugh continue to be a little puppy dog for Chief Justice John Roberts or was he really one in the just completed term?
After all, in one of the big cases (whether a citizenship question will go on the census), Roberts’ majority consisted of the four liberals (although there was so much ducking and weaving in all the votes that it seemed like an unwieldy square dance).
Sure enough, in the other “big” case, Rucho v. Common Cause, all five conservatives voted to deep-six justiciability for political gerrymandering.
The Court heard 70 cases and decided 67 and they voted 9-0 or 8-0 in 25. There is more agreement, however, than you might think. Roberts and Sonia Sotomayor (the most liberal justice), e.g., agreed 67 percent of the time.
In the coming term, the Court will review the DACA program, the Obama era plan to protect young undocumented immigrants. This means that for the third year in a row it will deal with a top-shelf Trump priority that has been turned down by lower federal judges. (See Robert Barnes’ piece in the Washington Post, 6-28-19).
This may very well be another matter in which Roberts will demand the administration tell the whole truth about its position (as he did in the census case).
I looked forward to the New York gun case as a chance to rule anew on the Second Amendment, but New York City just asked the Court to drop the case because it is now moot. (See, New York State Rifle and Pistol Assn. v. New York City).
An Arizona death sentence case is on the docket (McKinney v. Arizona), and because it is one of those matters that has been in and out of the courts since 1991, some justices may insist that enough is enough and the defendant has already had a fair trial.
Finally, there is an interesting Fourth Amendment car stop case (Kansas v. Glover) which further expands the power of the police to make warrantless searches.
From the 50 on the docket to date, which are your favorites?
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