Major cases before the US Supreme Court this term

[June 28, 2024]  (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court's current term features major cases involving former President Donald Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution and his ballot disqualification, abortion rights, gun rights, the power of federal agencies, social media regulation and Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy settlement.

Here is a look at some of the rulings already issued and cases already argued.

ABORTION PILL ACCESS

The justices on June 13 rejected a bid by anti-abortion groups and doctors to restrict access to the abortion pill in a 9-0 ruling that handed a victory to President Joe Biden's administration in its efforts to preserve broad access to the drug. The justices overturned a lower court's decision to roll back Food and Drug Administration steps in 2016 and 2021 that eased how the drug, called mifepristone, is prescribed and distributed. The court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked the necessary legal standing to pursue the case.

IDAHO ABORTION LAW

The justices on June 27 allowed abortions to be performed in Idaho when pregnant women are facing medical emergencies in a ruling that did not decide the case on its merits. The 6-3 decision effectively reinstated a federal judge's ruling that Idaho's Republican-backed near-total abortion ban must yield to a 1986 U.S. law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act when the two statutes conflict. Biden's administration had sued Idaho over the ban, which has a narrow exception permitting an abortion only to save the woman's life.

TRUMP IMMUNITY CLAIM

The justices on April 25 heard arguments in Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. Trump appealed after lower courts rejected his bid to be shielded from a federal criminal case pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Conservative justices voiced concern about presidents lacking any level of immunity including for less obviously egregious acts. Justices raised hypothetical examples of presidential wrongdoing such as selling nuclear secrets, ordering a coup or political assassination or taking a bribe. Trump has argued he is immune because he was president when he took the actions at issue. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

TRUMP BALLOT DISQUALIFICATION

The court on March 4 handed Trump a major victory by barring states from disqualifying candidates for federal office under a constitutional provision involving insurrection and reversing Colorado's exclusion of him from its ballot. The justices unanimously overturned a decision by Colorado's top court to kick the former president off the state's Republican primary ballot after finding that the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment disqualified him from again holding public office. The Colorado court had found that Trump took part in an insurrection for inciting and supporting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

OBSTRUCTION CHARGE

The justices on April 16 heard arguments over whether a man named Joseph Fischer who was involved in the Capitol attack can be charged with obstructing an official proceeding - congressional certification of the 2020 election results. The case has potential implications for Trump because he faces the same charge in the special counsel's federal election subversion case. The conservative justices during the argument signaled skepticism toward the obstruction charge brought against Fischer. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GUN CURBS

The court on June 21 upheld a federal law that makes it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to have guns. The 8-1 ruling overturned a lower court's decision striking down the 1994 law as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." The challenge was filed by a Texas man charged with illegal gun possession while subject to a domestic violence restraining order after assaulting his girlfriend.

BUMP STOCKS

The court on June 14 declared unlawful a federal ban on "bump stock" devices that enable semiautomatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns, rejecting yet another firearms restriction. The 6-3 ruling upheld a lower court's decision siding with a plaintiff from Texas who challenged the ban by claiming that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives improperly interpreted a federal law banning machine guns as extending to bump stocks. The rule was implemented in 2019 after a 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people.

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION FREE SPEECH

The justices on May 30 revived a National Rifle Association lawsuit accusing a New York state official of coercing banks and insurers to avoid doing business with the gun rights group in a 9-0 ruling that warned public officials against wielding their power to punish speech they dislike. The justices threw out a lower court's ruling that had dismissed the NRA's lawsuit. At issue is whether the official wielded her regulatory power to coerce financial institutions into cutting ties with the NRA in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections against government restrictions on free speech.

SOUTH CAROLINA VOTING

The court on May 23 made it harder to prove racial discrimination in electoral maps in a ruling backing South Carolina Republicans who moved out 30,000 Black residents when they redrew a congressional district. The 6-3 decision reversed a lower court's ruling that the map had violated the rights of Black voters under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. The case centered on the boundaries drawn by the Republican-led state legislature for one of South Carolina's seven U.S. House of Representatives districts. The new map raised the district's share of white voters and reduced its share of Black voters, who tend to support Democratic candidates.

SEC IN-HOUSE ENFORCEMENT

The justices on June 27 rejected the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house enforcement of laws protecting investors against securities fraud, dealing another blow to the agency's powers. The 6-3 decision upheld a lower court's ruling siding with a Texas-based hedge fund manager who contested the legality of the SEC's actions against him after the agency determined he had committed securities fraud. The ruling opened the door to challenges to other federal agencies' in-house enforcement arrangements.

CONSUMER WATCHDOG AGENCY'S FUNDING

The justices on May 16 upheld the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding mechanism in a challenge brought by the payday loan industry, handing a victory to Biden's administration. The 7-2 decision reversed a lower court's ruling that the CFPB's funding design - drawing money each year from the Federal Reserve instead of from budgets passed by lawmakers - violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution giving Congress the power of the purse. The CFPB was established under a law signed by Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2010 to curb the kind of predatory lending that contributed to the 2007–2009 financial crisis.

FEDERAL AGENCY POWERS

The court heard arguments on Jan. 17 in a bid by fishing companies to further limit the regulatory powers of federal agencies in a dispute involving a government-run program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England's coast. The justices appeared divided in the case. The companies have asked the court to rein in or overturn a precedent established in 1984 that calls for judges to defer to federal agency interpretation of U.S. laws deemed to be ambiguous, a doctrine called "Chevron deference." A ruling is expected by the end of June.

OZONE EMISSIONS

The court on June 27 blocked a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation aimed at reducing ozone emissions that may worsen air pollution in neighboring states. The 5-4 decision granted requests by Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia, as well as U.S. Steel Corp, pipeline operator Kinder Morgan and industry groups, to halt enforcement of the EPA's "Good Neighbor" plan restricting ozone pollution from upwind states, while they contest the rule's legality in a lower court. The agency had said the rule would result in cleaner air for millions of people, saving thousands of lives.

PURDUE PHARMA BANKRUPTCY SETTLEMENT

The court on June 27 blocked OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy settlement that would have shielded its wealthy Sackler family owners from lawsuits over their role in the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic. The 5-4 decision reversed a lower court's ruling that had upheld the plan to give Purdue's owners immunity in exchange for paying up to $6 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits accusing the company of unlawful misleading marketing of the powerful pain medication. The Biden administration had challenged the settlement as an abuse of bankruptcy protections meant for debtors in financial distress, not people like the Sacklers who have not filed for bankruptcy.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

The justices on March 15 decided that government officials can sometimes be sued under the First Amendment for blocking critics on social media. In unanimous rulings in two cases from California and Michigan, the justices set a new standard for determining if public officials acted in a governmental capacity when blocking critics on social media - a test to be applied in lawsuits accusing them of First Amendment violations. First Amendment free speech protections generally constrain government actors, not private individuals.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT MODERATION

The court on Feb. 26 heard arguments over the legality of Republican-backed laws in Texas and Florida that constrain the ability of social media companies to curb content on their platforms that these businesses deem objectionable. The justices expressed reservations about the laws but signaled they may not block them in their entirety. The two cases involve technology industry challenges contending that the laws restricting the content-moderation practices of large social media platforms violate First Amendment protections. A decision is expected by the end of June.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SOCIAL MEDIA

The justices on June 26 declined to impose limits on the way the Biden administration may communicate with social media platforms, rejecting a challenge to how officials encouraged the removal of posts deemed misinformation, including about elections and COVID. The 6-3 ruling overturned a lower court's decision that various federal officials likely violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which protects against governmental abridgment of free speech. The justices found that those behind the challenge including the states of Missouri and Louisiana lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the case.

HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS

The court, delving into the U.S. homelessness crisis, on April 22 heard arguments over the legality of local laws used against people who camp on public streets and parks in a case involving a southwest Oregon city's anti-vagrancy policy. The city of Grants Pass appealed a lower court's ruling that found that the ordinances - which make it illegal to camp on sidewalks, streets, parks or other public places - violate the Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against "cruel and unusual" punishment. A decision is expected by the end of June.

STARBUCKS UNIONIZATION

The justices on June 13 sided with Starbucks in the coffee chain's challenge to a judicial order to rehire seven Memphis employees fired as they sought to unionize in a ruling that could make it harder for courts to quickly halt labor practices contested as unfair under federal law. The justices unanimously threw out a lower court's approval of an injunction sought by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board ordering Starbucks to reinstate the workers while the agency's in-house administrative case against the Seattle-based company proceeds.

WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION LAWSUITS

The justices on April 17 made it easier to bring certain workplace discrimination lawsuits in a ruling that gave a boost to a St. Louis police officer who claimed she was transferred to an undesirable new role because of her sex. At issue was whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars workplace bias, requires employees to prove that discrimination caused them significant harm such as a pay cut, demotion or job loss. The unanimous ruling disapproved that approach.

'TRUMP TOO SMALL' TRADEMARK

The court on June 13 barred a federal trademark for the phrase "Trump Too Small" - an irreverent criticism of the former U.S. president - rejecting a California lawyer's claim that the trademark denial violated his First Amendment rights. The justices unanimously overturned a lower court's decision that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's rejection of Steve Elster's application to register the trademark to exclusively use it on T-shirts violated his free speech rights.

(Compiled by Andrew Chung and John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)

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