The court is headed toward another round of hot-button cases with potentially wide-ranging implications for American law.
The Supreme Court is expected to start its 2024–2025 term after a blockbuster year of considering contentious cases and challenges to longstanding precedent.
Already, the court has accepted petitions related to hot-button topics including gender, ghost guns, immigration, pornography, and e-cigarettes. The term starts on Oct. 7.
As the session begins, here are some potential developments to look out for. Besides new legal questions, legal issues from the prior term could resurface and help shape decisions on new cases in the 2024–2025 term.
Trump Back at Supreme Court?
Last term, the Supreme Court heard several cases related to former President Donald Trump, resulting in landmark rulings on immunity and the disqualification clause under the 14th Amendment.
The immunity ruling in Trump v. United States held that presidents enjoy different levels of immunity from criminal prosecution. That ruling stemmed from an appeal Trump filed in his election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith in the D.C. Circuit.
Both the immunity decision and another related to Jan. 6 defendants could return to the Supreme Court as Trump’s legal team raises their arguments in Washington.
In Fischer v. United States, the Supreme Court restricted the use of an Enron-era obstruction charge in Jan. 6 cases. This obstruction charge was leveled against Trump in the federal election case. On Oct. 3, Trump submitted a brief asking District Judge Tanya Chutkan to remove that portion of the indictment based on Fischer.
So far, Chutkan has set a timeline through the beginning of November with opportunities for Trump’s legal team to make arguments on immunity and the special counsel.
A status conference on Sept. 5 indicated that Trump and Chutkan would disagree about how she should apply the Supreme Court’s decision to Smith’s superseding indictment—making an appeal likely. If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agrees with Chutkan’s eventual decision, Trump will likely appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
By Sam Dorman
