The U.S. Supreme Court kicked off its new term on Monday with a consequential decision. The court rejected a Biden administration appeal of a lower court's ruling that bars emergency abortions in Texas that violate its restrictive law.
The Biden administration unsuccessfully argued Texas hospitals had to perform emergency abortions under federal law, which is seen as less restrictive.
Cases to be heard this term
One of the cases that will be argued this term is Garland v. VanDerStok. At issue, is whether ghost guns, which were restricted in 2022, can be banned. Ghost guns are guns that can be assembled at home from kits sold online. They don't have traditional serial numbers.
Another major hearing will be held in the Free Speech v. Paxton case, which involves age verification of pornographic websites. It challenges a Texas law passed that seeks to prevent minors from accessing sexual content online. The law requires any website where one-third of its content is harmful to minors to verify that every user is at least 18.
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The third high-profile case is U.S. v. Skrmetti. It asks justices whether Tennessee can ban sex-transition treatments for minors. Some have said this is the biggest case on the docket right now.
However, there is always a chance that the biggest case that the justices decide this term has yet to make it to the court. Challenges on calls to sell Tiktok could reach the Supreme Court within months. Also, the court could be forced to weigh during a challenged election.
"We will probably get a bunch of election cases and you can never tell what those are going to be," said Allan Morrison, associate dean at George Washington School of Law.
