The Supreme Court will evaluate Trump's expansive claims of presidential
power in its new term
[October 06, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is beginning a new term with a sharp
focus on President Donald Trump's robust assertion of executive power.
Pivotal cases on voting and the rights of LGBTQ people also are on the
agenda. On Tuesday, the justices will hear arguments over bans passed by
nearly half of U.S. states on therapy aimed at changing sexual
orientation or gender identity.
The opening session on Monday has lower-profile cases, including a
dispute over the right of a criminal defendant to consult with his
lawyer during an overnight break in his testimony. The judge in a Texas
murder trial ordered defense lawyers not to talk to their client about
his testimony.
A major thrust of the next 10 months, however, is expected to be the
justices' evaluation of Trump's expansive claims of presidential power.
The court's conservative majority has so far been receptive, at least in
preliminary rulings, to many emergency appeals from Trump's Republican
administration. But there could be more skepticism, however, when the
court conducts in-depth examinations of some Trump policies, including
the president's imposition of tariffs and his desired restrictions on
birthright citizenship.
The justices are hearing a pivotal case for Trump’s economic agenda in
early November as they consider the legality of many of his sweeping
tariffs. Two lower courts have found the Republican president does not
have the power to unilaterally impose wide-ranging tariffs under an
emergency powers law.
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The Supreme Court in Washington, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan
Walsh, File)
In December, the justices will take up Trump's power to fire
independent agency members at will, a case that probably will lead
the court to overturn, or drastically narrow, a 90-year-old
decision. It required a cause, like neglect of duty, before a
president could remove the Senate-confirmed officials from their
jobs.
The outcome appears to be in little doubt because the conservatives
have allowed the firings to take effect while the case plays out,
even after lower-court judges found the firings illegal. The three
liberal justices on the nine-member court have dissented each time.
Another case that has arrived at the court but has yet to be
considered involves Trump's executive order denying birthright
citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are
in the country illegally or temporarily.
The administration has appealed lower-court rulings blocking the
order as unconstitutional, or likely so, flouting more than 125
years of general understanding and an 1898 Supreme Court ruling. The
case could be argued in the late winter or early spring.
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