Supreme Court faces major questions this fall
Travel ban, gay rights on docket
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court opens its new term Oct. 2 and will quickly take up several disputes. The major questions before the court this fall are:
Trump and the travel ban
Can Trump temporarily block the entry of foreign travelers from six majority Muslim nations because they pose a “heightened risk” of terrorism, or is his order unconstitutional because it reflects bias against Muslims and is not based on evidence of a true security threat?
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California and the 4th Circuit in Virginia struck down Trump’s order; in late June, the Supreme Court revived it in part. It also agreed to hear Trump’s claim of broad power over immigration.
But the case could be dismissed since time limits in the order will have expired by the time arguments are presented.
Trump v. Hawaii and Trump v. IRAP is scheduled to be heard Oct. 10.
Religious liberty and gay rights
Can a baker refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple because of his Christian beliefs, or can the state require that businesses open to the public provide “full-and-equal” services to customers without regard to their sexual orientation?
Colorado and 20 other states have civil rights laws that protect gays and lesbians. Trump administration lawyers have urged the court to carve out a “narrow” exception based on the freedom of speech for cake makers, photographers, musicians and others whose work is “expressive.”
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado is scheduled to be heard in December.
Gerrymandering When one party controls a state’s government, can it draw election district maps to “entrench” itself in the majority for another decade, even in elections where most voters cast ballots for the other party?
Since the 1980s, the justices have frowned on “partisan gerrymandering” as unfair and corrupt, but haven’t agreed on a rule for an electoral map tilting so far as to be unconstitutional. The court has outlawed racial gerrymandering, but lines between racial and partisan gerrymandering are often blurred.
The justices will consider partisan gerrymandering in a Wisconsin case, Gill v. Whitford, to be heard Oct. 3.
Cellphone tracking and privacy
Can the FBI and police obtain cellphone data to track the movements of a crime suspect because such phone-company-held records are not private, or must they first obtain a search warrant based on probable cause from a magistrate?
Privacy advocates, right and left, urge the court to strictly protect the records. But investigators say they sometimes need the data to track travel patterns to identify a crime suspect or a terrorist.
Carpenter v. United States is to be heard in December.
Jail before deportation Can noncitizens who are scheduled for deportation be kept in jail indefinitely, or must they be given a bail hearing after six months?
Acting on a class-action suit in Los Angeles, the 9th Circuit Court said such detainees have a right to bail after six months if they pose no danger to the public and are unlikely to flee. The justices heard the government’s appeal in November, shortly after Trump’s election, but could not reach a decision.
The case, Jennings v. Rodriguez, will be argued again Oct. 3, when Justice Neil M. Gorsuch can cast the deciding vote.
Voting rolls and purges Can states remove voters from their rolls if they do not vote for two years and do not respond to notices over four years?
The 6th Circuit Court agreed with civil rights lawyers who said this procedure in Ohio violated a federal law that says a voter’s registration may not be canceled for “a failure to vote.”
Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute is to be heard on Nov. 8.