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SCOTUS To Hear Cases On Election Law, First Amendment In December

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


The U.S. Supreme Court will begin its current session with two more high-profile cases. In December, the nation’s highest court will hear oral arguments in cases regarding the First Amendment and election integrity.

“The Supreme Court’s December argument session will feature two of the highest-profile cases of the 2022-23 term: a free-speech claim by a website designer who opposes same-sex marriage and a case involving the power of state legislatures to set rules for federal elections. That news came with the release of the court’s December argument calendar on Tuesday,” SCOTUS Blog reported.

“The justices will hear argument in 303 Creative v. Elenis, the case brought by Colorado website designer Lorie Smith, on Dec. 5. Smith wants to expand her business to create custom wedding websites, but she opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds and wants to put a notice on her own website to explain that – a message that would violate Colorado law, which bars businesses that are open to the public from discriminating against LGBTQ people or announcing an intent to do so,” the blog continued.

“Two days later, the justices will hear oral argument in Moore v. Harper, a dispute arising from the North Carolina legislature’s efforts to draw a new congressional map in response to the 2020 census. The Republican legislators defending the plan argue that a ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court invalidating the legislature’s map and ordering the state to draw a new one violates the “independent state legislature” theory – the idea that, under the Constitution, only the legislature has the power to regulate federal elections, without interference from state courts,” it added.

303 Creative and Moore v. Harper are two of the nine cases in the December argument session, which begins on Nov. 28. The justices will also hear oral arguments in two cases involving federal fraud and bribery statutes, a challenge to the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement decisions, and the government’s authority to dismiss a lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act,” the site continued.

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The Court has been busy lately.

Earlier this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ruled in favor of former President Donald Trump in his appeal to keep his tax returns from Congress.

Last week, an appeals court decided to deny the former president’s appeal to keep the records from Congress. But that left the possibility that the case was going to be appealed to the Supreme, Fox News reported.

The House Ways and Means Committee first requested six years of Trump’s tax returns in 2019, but then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied the effort. After President Biden was elected, the Department of Justice said in July 2021 that Congress should be able to review the records, which Trump appealed. 

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled last December that the Treasury Department should turn the tax returns over to the congressional committee, and a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling in August. The full bench of the D.C. Circuit Court denied Trump’s request to stop the release on Thursday. 

Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday described how she believes the situation involving former President Donald Trump’s testimony before the House Jan. 6 Committee, which she co-chairs, will play out in the coming weeks.

In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” the Wyoming Republican — who is leaving office in January after getting trounced in an August primary by Trump-backed Harriet Hageman — first responded to a question from host Chuck Todd about what the committee will do if the former president doesn’t produce requested documents by a Nov. 4 deadline.

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“We are anticipating that the former president will understand his legal obligation and will comply with the subpoena,” Cheney said. “We’ve made clear in the subpoena a number of things, including that if he intends to take the Fifth, he ought to alert us of that ahead of time.”

Todd then asked the outgoing Republican about an offer made by Trump’s legal team to have him testify on live TV.

However, though the committee has held several hearings and heard witness testimony during primetime, Turmp’s subpoena was not intended to be for a live hearing, with Cheney going on to say that the committee is not likely to hold any hearings “in which they are not in total control,” Fox News reported.

“We are not going to allow the former president — he’s not going to turn this into a circus,” she said. “This isn’t going to be, you know, his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus and the food fight that became. This is a far too serious set of issues, and we’ve made clear exactly what his obligations are, and we are proceeding with that set out.”