The Supreme Court returned last week for a consequential new term featuring major disputes over President Donald Trump’s agenda, gun rights, immigration, religious liberty, and election rules.
The nine justices reconvene less than a month before the November midterm elections, with Republicans and Democrats battling for control of Congress and the possibility of emergency election litigation looming.
The court’s 6-3 conservative majority will again confront fundamental questions about presidential authority and the reach of federal and state governments.
One of the first major disputes involves climate litigation that Colorado governments have brought against fossil-fuel companies.
Boulder County and other local governments are seeking damages from energy companies, including ExxonMobil and Suncor, over alleged climate-related harms. The companies argue that state-law lawsuits cannot effectively regulate global greenhouse-gas emissions and could expose the industry to enormous liability.
The Trump administration has backed the energy companies, arguing that climate policy cannot be established through individual state lawsuits.
The justices are also expected to confront one of the most significant gun-rights disputes in years involving state restrictions on semiautomatic firearms.
Roughly a dozen states prohibit weapons they classify as assault weapons, including commonly owned AR-15-style rifles.
Gun-rights organizations argue that such restrictions violate the Second Amendment because the firearms are possessed by millions of law-abiding Americans for lawful purposes.
Supporters of the bans contend that states have authority to restrict particularly dangerous weapons.
The dispute follows a series of Supreme Court decisions strengthening Second Amendment protections, including its landmark 2022 ruling establishing a historical-tradition test for evaluating firearms regulations.
Election law will also take center stage as Arizona Republicans defend proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.
The dispute includes requirements involving documentary proof of citizenship for certain voters registering through Arizona’s state system and procedures for maintaining voter rolls when citizenship cannot be confirmed.
The case could have implications beyond Arizona as states continue debating how citizenship requirements should be enforced without unlawfully restricting eligible voters.
With the November elections approaching, the court could additionally receive emergency requests involving ballot rules, deadlines and other election disputes.
Another major case involves Colorado’s universal preschool program and participating religious schools.
St. Mary Catholic Parish is challenging restrictions stemming from Colorado’s LGBTQ nondiscrimination requirements.
The Catholic school argues that enforcing those requirements against its faith-based admissions practices violates constitutional protections for religious exercise.
Colorado maintains that religious schools are eligible to participate but must comply with nondiscrimination requirements when accepting public funding.
The dispute could clarify how far states may go in attaching conditions to taxpayer-funded programs involving religious institutions.
Immigration is positioned to become another major battlefield.
The justices will examine the Trump administration’s practice of deporting some migrants to countries other than their homelands.
The administration argues third-country removals are necessary when immigrants cannot readily be returned to their countries of origin.
Another case concerns mandatory detention for certain immigrants awaiting removal proceedings.
The administration maintains that federal law permits detention without bond hearings in circumstances that lower courts have interpreted differently.
The cases could significantly affect Trump’s broader immigration enforcement program.
Trump is also asking the Supreme Court to consider several cases involving him personally.
He is seeking review of the roughly $83 million judgment arising from E. Jean Carroll’s defamation litigation.
Trump has separately asked the justices to revive his lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and others stemming from allegations surrounding the 2016 Russia investigation.
Another petition involves Trump’s attempt to pursue defamation claims against CNN.
The Supreme Court has not agreed to hear all of those disputes, and petitions seeking review are routinely rejected.
The justices could also be asked to take up additional controversies involving abortion medication, prediction markets and Ten Commandments displays in public-school classrooms.
The term is expected to run through June 2027.
With disputes involving guns, elections, immigration, religion and executive authority already on the docket — and additional Trump administration cases likely to arrive — the Supreme Court is positioned to remain at the center of some of Washington’s biggest legal and political battles.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
