The Supreme Court is heating up after its ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and expanding the reach of the Second Amendment last term, the court is facing harsh criticism from the public. Now, the public is even more interested to see what the court will discuss in the upcoming 2022- 2023 term.
The Supreme Court justices returned to court on Sept. 28 during the first closed-door conference for this new 2022-2023 term. After the official beginning of the session on Oct. 3, the court has already agreed to hear major cases involving election law, environmental protections, equal treatment of LGBTQ+ people and the constitutionality of affirmative action.
Affirmative action is the effort to improve educational and employment opportunities for minority groups in the United States. This action originally began as a way to resolve the problem of discrimination against these groups. In the cases of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, the Supreme Court is facing the decision whether to overrule Grutter v. Bollinger. The people against affirmative action declare that there is no need for it because the 14th Amendment already upholds racial neutrality, but the real question is whether this Amendment protects equality or equity. If overruled, the Supreme Court would be declaring that admitting students higher education institutions could not use race as a factor. As of right now, nine states have laws that prohibit affirmative action in college admissions.
Another significant election law case is the case Moore v. Harper in North Carolina, which focuses on the control of election law. The Supreme Court will be deciding whether to overturn a ruling made by the North Carolina Supreme Court, in 2019 The North Carolina Supreme Court overturned a congressional map in the state, which created a partisan gerrymandering. This case is not just important to North Carolina, but it is important because many other executive branch/state officials over the US made alterations to election laws without getting approval from the state legislatures. Therefore, this case is representative of a problem that occurred all over the country.
Lastly, the case, 303 Creative v. Elenis has put a lot of pressure on the court. The cases asks if state law can compel private businesess to serve LGBTQ customers or does the First Amednement allow business owners to do what they want on religious grounds. The case follows a business owner who does not want to serve same-sex couples, but is required by Colorado’s nondiscrimination laws. The case brings up a topic that has been under discussion for a while between someone’s free exercise of religion and the state’s power to enforce equal treatment of everyone.
Even though the court has not been in session for very long, it is already stirring up controversy and questions from the public for what is to come.