Major Supreme Court Decisions Anticipated in Final Days of Term

The Supreme Court is nearing the end of its term with more than a dozen decisions yet to come, including several that are expected to be major rulings.Among the major cases left to be decided include issues like the limits of presidential control over independent agencies, transgender athletes, election law, and birthright citizenship.The Supreme Court generally releases its final opinions by the end of June or the first few days in July to start a summer recess. The court has planned two days next week to release opinions.One of the most anticipated decisions is in Trump v. Barbara. The justices will decide if President Trump’s narrowing of birthright citizenship complies with the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, which states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” are citizens and a statute which codifies that clause.Mr. Trump signed the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” executive order on his first day back in the White House as part of his sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration. The order seeks to deny American citizenship to children born in America if the parents are in the country illegally or are visitors on short-term visas.Multiple lower courts have blocked the policy from being implemented but the Trump administration argues the lower courts are misrepresenting the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, claiming it was primarily intended to provide citizenship to children of freed slaves after the Civil War and does not apply to all children born on American soil.In another case related to Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, the court in Mullin v. Doe, is considering whether to allow him to remove protections for thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants.The justices also have two pending decisions involving independent agencies and the executive branch’s power to fire their leaders.The conservative majority of the Supreme Court appears sympathetic to the Trump administration assertion that the president has the right to fire the heads of independent federal agencies but could carve out an exception for members of the Federal Reserve.In December arguments in Trump v. Slaughter the majority of the court seemed ready to allow Mr. Trump’s March firing of a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, Rebecca Slaughter, to stand. In Trump v. Cook, some justices seemed more skeptical about upholding the firing of a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook.Lawyers for Ms. Cook told the high court that removing her from her post “would threaten our Nation’s economic stability and raise questions about the Federal Reserve’s continued independence.”A Second Amendment case concerning whether Hawaii may block licensed carry gun owners from bringing their gun onto private property open to the public unless the property owner gives permission in advance. In Wolford v. Lopez, gun rights advocates say the law makes it “impossible as a practical matter to carry a firearm for lawful self-defense in Hawaii.”Decisions are awaited in two cases involving transgender athletes. Little v. Hecox will decide whether laws that limit participation in female sports based on biological sex at birth violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and West Virginia v. B.P.J. will decide if Title IX prevents a state from designating girls’ sports teams based on biological sex at birth.Another case involves election law, a priority of Mr. Trump. Watson v. Republican National Committee concerns whether federal election-day statutes preempt states from counting ballots that are cast by federal election day but received after that day.Another major decision anticipated by Health Secretary Robert. F. Kennedy Jr. involves federal pesticide law. Monsanto Company v. Burnell could influence how liability claims involving pesticides are handled.Despite the number of major rulings still anticipated, SCOTUS Blog — which reports on the Supreme Court — said there is nothing especially unusual about the number of rulings yet to come this late in the term compared to the previous five terms.It says it appears likely that the justices will finish by July 1 “with a flurry of opinion days.”

Major Supreme Court Decisions Anticipated in Final Days of Term

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