<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1671672274566,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000183-3248-d39e-a1bf-b6e9310b0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1671672274566,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000183-3248-d39e-a1bf-b6e9310b0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_71672268", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1210929"} }); ","_id":"00000185-35de-d008-adad-b5df2e440000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe Supreme Court flexed its conservative muscle with several blockbuster decisions following its fall 2021-2022 term that had an immediate impact on state laws in 2022 — and will shape legal precedent for years to come.
From expanding Second Amendment protections for firearm owners to overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to impose stricter laws preventing abortion procedures, the court’s decisions sparked a political backlash that reverberated throughout the midterm elections.
The past year has also led to massive shake-ups after the high court experienced an unprecedented leak of a draft opinion that signaled the overturning of Roe one month before the ruling was announced. Since then, threats to justices and judges have been on the rise in addition to overall public confidence in the high court dwindling to historic lows.
SUPREME COURT SETS CRITICAL DATE FOR FATE OF STUDENT LOAN CANCELLATION FOR MILLIONS
Supreme CourtAlong the way, President Joe Biden nominated and the Senate confirmed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed former Justice Stephen Breyer, which marked a significant milestone in diversity with the first black woman justice on the high court. However, the appointment did not change the ideological composition of the 6-3 Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court.
Here are the biggest Supreme Court case decisions that will affect the nation beyond 2022:
Paving the way for Biden administration to end Trump-era immigration policy
The Supreme Court gave a win to the Biden administration on June 30 and voted 5-4 that a lower court should now look for the first time at whether the Biden administration’s Oct. 29, 2021, memo terminating the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy was lawful under the Administrative Procedures Act.
The program, first enacted under President Donald Trump‘s administration, forced asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border to await approval in Mexico.
The Supreme Court reversed a decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling that the memoranda by the Biden administration to terminate the program did not violate the mandatory-detention requirement of the provision.
But nearly six months after justices cleared the Biden administration to continue its efforts to remove the policy, the administration was stalled once again on Dec. 15 after a Texas federal court paused the ending of the program.
The issue surrounding the program isn’t Biden’s only problem surrounding immigration policy. The Title 42 policy, another Trump-era program that allowed border officials to turn away asylum-seekers quickly, was kept from ending through a temporary administrative stay by Chief Justice John Roberts two days before it was slated to end.
Limits on the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions
By a 6-3 vote on June 30, justices limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, a decision that has major implications for checking runaway regulators and for the economy.
The high court shut down the ability of the EPA to change the nation’s energy sources completely to counter the effects of climate change on the basis of the agency’s expansive interpretation of a narrow provision in the Clean Air Act.
Through its summer opinion, the high court made it more difficult for other regulatory agencies to make sweeping changes without congressional oversight.
Turning abortion laws back over to the states
In a 6-3 vote on June 24, the high court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks is constitutional and overturned the landmark 1973 Roe decision, allowing states to impose laws severely limiting or restricting such procedures.
Now, 13 states have full bans on abortion, while five states have restrictions on abortion from between six weeks of gestation up to 20 weeks. At least 15 states, including the District of Columbia, legally protect abortion procedures, while 10 states permit such procedures with some limitations.
Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wyoming all have some form of abortion restriction laws that have been held up in court.
Ruling against strict concealed handguns
In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court ruled 6-3 on June 23 that states with strict laws on carrying guns in public violate the Second Amendment.
Since the Bruen decision, judges in various states have said it’s unconstitutional to ban guns that lack serial numbers, to block people under felony indictment from buying guns, and to prohibit guns from airports.
However, Bruen does not prevent or undo laws such as licensing requirements, background checks and training, and fingerprinting mandates that exist in many states in order to possess a gun.
Upholding school choice
In a landmark 6-3 opinion cheered by school choice advocates, justices ruled on June 21 that Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a state program that allows parents to use vouchers to send students to public or private schools.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The high court maintained that Maine’s tuition program cannot legally block the funds from being used on religious schools.
The ruling has broad implications for school choice programs at a moment when many states are expanding such programs amid a renewed wave of public support.
