Daniel Hemel on the Supreme Court's Most Controversial Upcoming Cases
US Supreme Court: A Look at Today’s Most Controversial Cases
Supreme Court justices on Tuesday refused to rule on an Arkansas law regulating abortions administered with drugs rather than surgery in Planned Parenthood of Arkansas v. Jegley.
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Other hot-button cases of the term will be decided by the end of June:
• Issue: First Amendment
Mark Janus works in the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. He is not a member of the union but pays $45 a month for his “Fair Share” of the costs of collective bargaining. Union members pay more. He argues that forcing him to pay the union is against his First Amendment free speech rights.
Carpenter v. The United States
• Issue: Fourth Amendment
Timothy Carpenter was convicted in a series of robberies after his cell phone location data was searched and seized over the course of 127 days without a warrant. Carpenter argues that the prosecutors violated his Fourth Amendment rights by obtaining the records without a warrant.
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission
• Issue: First Amendment
The ACLU argued that Masterpiece Cakeshop’s refusal to make a wedding cake for a gay couple was a violation of Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws. The Department of Justice wrote a brief in support of the baker, saying: “Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights.”
• Issue: Voting Rights / Partisan Gerrymandering
Was Wisconsin’s redistricting plan for state legislative districts passed by Republicans in the state’s House and Senate and signed by the Republican governor unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering?
Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute
• Issue: Voting Rights
In another voting rights case, the Supreme Court will decide whether it was legal for Ohio to have removed names of inactive voters from the voter rolls.
• Issue: Presidential Powers and Establishment Clause
In one of the most watched cases of the term, Hawaii challenged President Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban,” which excludes immigration from eight predominantly Muslim countries.
• Issue: Commerce Clause
Can a state impose sales tax collection obligations on a retailer that has no in-state physical presence?
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