Looking Ahead to Next Month’s New Court Term
In just a month, the U.S. Supreme Court — with all nine seats filled as of this writing — will begin hearing oral arguments for what could be a bombshell term, ending just in time for the country’s mid-term elections.
Court watchers believe the most important case of the term is the Mississippi suit over a law restricting abortion rights. A decision upholding the statute could involve the undoing of Roe v. Wade, which has been on the books since 1973.
Another case involving the “right to carry” a gun outside the home could either expand rights under the Second Amendment, or allow states to limit what some partisans argue is an absolute right to be armed.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is yet another suit seeking to define what is an “undue burden,” which Scotus has ruled may not be imposed on a woman’s right to an abortion, under the line of cases beginning with Roe and refined by Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 opinion whose plurality ruling was written by Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter.
Casey affirmed a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability.
The Mississippi case comes on the heels of a Louisiana 5-4 opinion, June Medical Services v. Russo, in June 2020, just before the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. There, a majority ruled invalid a law requiring physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. That imposed an undue burden, the majority wrote.
The arrival on the court of Amy Coney Barrett signaled to judicial junkies that conservatives were solidly in charge, and sweeping changes on such issues as reproductive rights would be quick and decisive.
The amicus briefs in Dobbs have swamped the court, with more than 90 already on file.
The Roman Catholic Dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi filed theirs within days after the certiorari application was filed, and Jay Sekulow, best known for his representation of President Donald Trump, got his friend of the court brief in immediately thereafter.
The Second Amendment case is New York State Rifle and Pistol Assn. v. Bruen and asks whether the constitution protects the right to carry a gun for self defense purposes outside the home.
The D.C. v. Heller opinion in 2008, which fleshed out a citizen’s right to possess a gun in the home, only anticipated suits over issues as concealed carry, use of automatic weapons and the like.
As of this writing, there is still no word whether Justice Stephen Breyer has changed his mind about stepping down to allow President Joe Biden to nominate a justice.
Breyer just turned 83 two weeks ago and has told media he enjoys being the senior justice on the liberal side of the bench.
Richard Shugrue is a professor emeritus at the Creighton University School of Law and a columnist for The Daily Record.
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