The Supreme Court started a new term this week, and already experts are expecting it to be a big one as the justices settle in and work through personality differences.
"We're going to see a big blockbuster term," Alan B. Morrison, an associate dean at George Washington University Law School, told NotedDC.
New faces: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, hit the ground running, asking several questions and taking strong positions in the first week.
Jackson was confirmed to the bench last year after President Biden nominated her to fill the seat vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement.
"Some justices are very reluctant. One thing seems clear — she was not at all reluctant," Morrison said.
Jackson was particularly active in questioning an argument by the state of Alabama that seeks to effectively neuter the Voting Right Act and rejected suggestions that redistricting must be done in a race-neutral way.
"We are talking about a situation in which race has already infused the voting system," she said.
Big cases: Morrison noted several of this term's cases will have "enormous impact on most Americans" — and the conservative wing of the court has the upper hand.
"It's decidedly conservative. If Chief Justice [John] Roberts is your fourth vote, you're already in trouble," he said.
Here are some key cases we're watching:
1. Merrill v. Milligan: In what will be one of the most explosive cases of the term, the court is considering the state of Alabama's objection to adding another majority-Black congressional district in its redistricting process.
More than a quarter of Alabama's population is Black, but the state legislature has drawn its new map with just one majority-Black district out of seven, representing just 14 percent of the population.
If the court rules in favor of the state, it would be another blow to the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which is meant to prohibit discrimination.
"That would be the final nail," Morrison said of the ultimate impact to an already watered-down VRA.
2. A ffirmative action cases: Two cases before the court over race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina could ultimately decide whether affirmative action is allowed in higher education.
3. Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency: The case addresses the scope of the Clean Water Act of 1972 — seen as a hallmark of federal environmental protection provisions.
In a dispute that has stretched more than a decade before high court heard the case, an Idaho couple is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's authority over protected wetlands considered "navigable waters."
4. Texas and Florida's battle against Big Tech: Texas and Florida will argue to defend laws that take aim at social media companies and censorship. If the laws take effect, platforms will not be able to prohibit or moderate content that the companies find objectionable.
Both laws came amid Republican concerns over censorship of conservative viewpoints. But critics argue they could ultimately create unsafe free-for-alls with misinformation and obscene content.
5. Wild card: Former President Trump's legal team has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a legal battle over a third-party review of thousands of pages of sensitive government documents stored at his Florida estate. The court includes three of Trump's lifetime appointees.
And hanging over all the cases: A growing partisan divide concerning the court, with justices acknowledging the internal tumult that followed the leak of the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
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