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The United States Supreme Court‘s new nine-month term begins on Monday, October 4, and it could be one of the most significant terms in years.
The Justices are poised to decide major cases that could roll back abortion rights and broaden gun and religious rights.
“It’s a hugely important term,” says David Cole, the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, “with some of the most contentious issues in American life today squarely before the court.”
This will be the first full term with the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority, after Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation on Oct. 26, 2020.
Here are the major cases to watch this fall in the upcoming Supreme Court term.
Abortion access
On Dec. 1, the Supreme Court will hear its most significant abortion case in years, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which could determine whether the Supreme Court will go against decades of precedent and overturn 1973’s Roe vs. Wade, which established the Constitutional right to end a pregnancy before a fetus can survive outside the womb.
Gun rights
Another prominent case this term is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which challenges a New York state law that requires anyone who wants a concealed carry permit to first prove to the licensing authority that they have good reason for carrying the weapon, which can include self-defense.
Separation of church and state
On Dec. 8, the court will hear Carson v. Makin, a case that could have an enormous impact on whether religious institutions can benefit from state funding. Carson deals with a state-backed tuition program in Maine, which grants tuition assistance to families in areas without public high schools so they can instead send their kids to private school.
State secrets
The court will hear two cases this term dealing with the federal government’s right to invoke its state secrets privilege, which allows the government to refuse to release information in litigation if doing so poses a risk to national security.
It will also consider important death penalty cases—including one involving the Boston Marathon Bomber and another involving an inmate’s access to a spiritual advisor during the execution process, as well as a host of other important cases.
