Constitutional Crisis Hotline

Supreme Court Roundup

Episode Summary

For the final episode of the Constitutional Crisis Hotline Season 1 , Fordham Law experts on constitutional law and statutory interpretation reflect on the Supreme Court's recent decisions.

Episode Notes

Fordham Law professors Tracy Higgins, Abner Greene, and Ethan Leib join Julie Suk on the Constitutional Crisis Hotline to analyze the major cases of the Supreme Court Term that just ended, and then debate about the public criticisms of the Court’s legitimacy.

In the last few weeks, the Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action programs, calling into question whether institutions can promote diversity in race conscious ways.  It protected the free expression of a Christian website designer who opposes same-sex marriage against a Colorado law that would require her to offer her services to same-sex couples. The Court also struck down President Biden's effort to forgive student loan debt during the pandemic.  Is the Court redefining the policy landscape on a broad range of socially divisive issues?  Do these decisions--taken together with its decisions last Term on abortion and guns--call the Court's legitimacy into question?  What are we talking about when we question the Court's legitimacy anyway?  And what cases should we look out for this coming Fall?

Recent decisions discussed:

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University

Allen v. Milligan

303 Creative v. Elenis

Sackett v. EPA

Biden v. Nebraska

 

Upcoming cases to watch:

U.S. v. Rahimi

Netchoice v. Paxton (if the Court decides to grant cert.)

Alexander v. South Carolina

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo