Supreme Court Kicks Off New Term With Abortion, Guns, and Religion on the Docket

The Supreme Court kicked off its new term on Monday with major controversial cases on the docket, The Associated Press reports.

The most-watched case this term will focus on abortion.

The court is scheduled to hear arguments on December 1 over a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks.

Lower courts blocked the law from going into effect because it violates the Supreme Court precedent barring abortion bans before viability, which is at around 24 weeks.

Mississippi is one of a dozen states that passed laws violating the precedent in hopes of getting the Trump-packed Supreme Court to revisit the Roe v. Wade precedent. The court earlier this year allowed Texas to enact a six-week abortion ban but did not rule on the merits of the law.

The Supreme Court already ruled on the issue in 1992, ACLU Legal Director David Cole told the AP. “The only difference between then and now is the identity of the justices.”

Guns:

The court is also set to take up a challenge to a New York law restricting the carrying of guns in public.

The case is the first major gun rights case in more than a decade that the court has agreed to hear and could lead to an expansion of gun rights under the Second Amendment.

The court previously declined to hear several gun cases with similar arguments before Justice Amy Coney Barrett replaced the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“An expansive Second Amendment ruling by the Supreme Court could restrict or prohibit the sensible solutions that have been shown can end gun violence,” Jonathan Lowy, vice president and chief counsel at the gun violence prevention group Brady, told the AP.

Religious freedom and more:

The court is also set to hear a case from Maine overs its law excluding religious schools from a tuition program for families who live in areas without public schools.

The justices will also consider whether to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhkhar Tsarnaev.

Another case centers on a challenge by Sen. Ted Cruz over Federal Election Commission rules restricting repayments to a candidate who loans her campaign money.

The court will also determine whether a Guantanamo Bay detainee can have access to state secrets for his legal defense and whether a group of Muslim residents in California can sue the FBI for targeting them for surveillance because of their religion.

 

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