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The Supreme Court's Right Turn Goes Way Beyond Guns And Abortion
When former President Donald Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee was confirmed in 2020, cementing the most conservative majority on the court since the 1930s, it wasn’t clear which conservative goals the justices would tackle first. Culture-war issues like abortion, gun rights, affirmative action and religious liberty were obvious possibilities, but issues with a more subtle impact like reining in the power of the executive branch and limiting unions had long been on conservative legal advocates’ wish list, too. So the question wasn’t whether the court would move to the right — it was more a question of where they’d start.
The term isn’t over yet, but it’s already looking like this year could be a bonanza for conservatives — and not just because of the high-profile cases that have snapped up most of the attention. I’ve written about how the justices could limit or overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established a constitutional right to abortion, and expand gun rights for the first time in over a decade. But there are several other, less flashy cases that could also have sweeping effects on Americans’ lives.
It seems very likely, for instance, that the justices will continue to erode the barrier between church and state by requiring states to fund religious schools in programs where they already support non-religious private schools. The conservative justices could also impede government agencies’ ability to act independently of Congress by giving more power over their decisions to the conservative-leaning federal judiciary. “This term is a gift basket to the conservatives who wanted to elect Trump so he could appoint Supreme Court justices,” said Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan. “It’s becoming clear that the conservative justices are interested in moving the law on a bunch of major issues that have huge practical consequences for how our government works and for people’s lives.”
...snip...
None of these cases have gotten a lot of attention so far, which could make it easier for the court to do something fairly dramatic without getting a lot of blowback. And given how technical the cases involving federal agencies are in particular, the court might not have to worry about going against public opinion anyway. But for conservative advocates watching the courts, these cases have a lot of significance, which means this term could mark an even sharper turn to the right than the non-lawyers among us may be expecting.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-supreme-courts-right-turn-goes-way-beyond-guns-and-abortion/?ex_cid=biden-approval
The term isn’t over yet, but it’s already looking like this year could be a bonanza for conservatives — and not just because of the high-profile cases that have snapped up most of the attention. I’ve written about how the justices could limit or overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established a constitutional right to abortion, and expand gun rights for the first time in over a decade. But there are several other, less flashy cases that could also have sweeping effects on Americans’ lives.
It seems very likely, for instance, that the justices will continue to erode the barrier between church and state by requiring states to fund religious schools in programs where they already support non-religious private schools. The conservative justices could also impede government agencies’ ability to act independently of Congress by giving more power over their decisions to the conservative-leaning federal judiciary. “This term is a gift basket to the conservatives who wanted to elect Trump so he could appoint Supreme Court justices,” said Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of Michigan. “It’s becoming clear that the conservative justices are interested in moving the law on a bunch of major issues that have huge practical consequences for how our government works and for people’s lives.”
...snip...
None of these cases have gotten a lot of attention so far, which could make it easier for the court to do something fairly dramatic without getting a lot of blowback. And given how technical the cases involving federal agencies are in particular, the court might not have to worry about going against public opinion anyway. But for conservative advocates watching the courts, these cases have a lot of significance, which means this term could mark an even sharper turn to the right than the non-lawyers among us may be expecting.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-supreme-courts-right-turn-goes-way-beyond-guns-and-abortion/?ex_cid=biden-approval
Lots more at the link to 538
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