The Court has only two more decision days on its calendar as of this post on June 20: the usual Thursday release on June 22 and a Friday “non-argument” day that recently was added for June 23. But by my count, there are 18 cases argued earlier this term but not resolved as of June 20. We are still awaiting decisions on some of the most highly watched cases of the term — involving affirmative action, LGBT discrimination, the “independent state legislature theory” (preventing state courts from altering election laws), student loan forgiveness, employer accommodations of religious observances, and other significant cases noted below:
- The affirmative action cases (argued Oct. 31), Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard
- Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co (argued Nov. 8): a bit of a sleeper case that deserves more attention: Whether the due process clause of the 14th Amendment prohibits a state from requiring a corporation to consent to personal jurisdiction to do business in the state.
- US v. Texas (argued Nov. 29), challenging immigration law enforcement priorities.
- 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (argued Dec. 5) — the latest chapter in challenges to anti-discrimination laws involving LGBTQ rights.
- Moore v. Harper (argued Dec. 7), involving the “independent state legislature theory” that would undermine state court authority to address election law issues. This case is in a strange procedural posture because of state court actions since argument.
- Biden v. Nebraska and Dept. of Educ. v. Brown (argued Feb. 28), the student loan forgiveness cases.
- Groff v. DeJoy (argued Apr. 18), involving the scope of an employer’s Title VII obligation to accommodate religious observances.
- Counterman v. Colorado, concerning what constitutes a “true threat” (rather than speech protected by the First Amendment) in the context of social media.
So I would anticipate decision announcements next week as well, but we’ll have to watch the calendar on the front page of supremecourt.gov. I have no way to knowing when the final decisions will come down, or even if it will be next week (as I’m guessing) or if they will instead issue an extraordinary number of decision this Thursday and Friday. It would be very surprising if they are not wrapped up by the end of June.
I will note that Monday, June 26 is already on the calendar as an “order list issuance day,” that Mondays were common opinion release days in years past, and that June 26 is a storied day in LGBT history, as the date on which the Court issued Obergefell v. Hodges (in 2015), US v. Windsor (2013), and Lawrence v. Texas (2003). So with 303 Creative being among the unresolved cases, I have to wonder….