Last week the Supreme Court went mainstream, but it wasn’t exactly satisfying for the masses. Here is an overview of the big 10 rulings and what they entail:
Abortion and Clinic Doctors
- Struck down an abortion law in Louisiana that would require that alll doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles
LGBTQ and Workerplace Rights
- Ruled that workers can’t be fired for being gay or transgender
- Sex discrimination was already outlawed by Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, so the law now applies to gay and transgender workers
Religion and Schools
- Decided that if a state runs a scholarship program which funds secular schools, it can’t exclude religious schools
Religion and Teachers
- Shielded religious schools from employment discrimination lawsuits
Religion and Birth Control
- Sided to exempt employers who cite religious or moral objections from part of the Affordable Care Act that requires providing no-cost contraceptives to employees
Native Americans and Crime
- Determined that U.S. authorities, not the state, have jurisdiction to prosecute serious crimes committed by Native Americans on land that was part of a historic reservation
Dreamers and Immigration Law
- Denied Trump’s effort to shut down the Obama-era immigration program shielding hundreds of thousands of young migrants known as Dreamers
- Though the court was explicit about not ruling on the program’s legality, which remains the subject of litigation in the lower courts.
President and Independent Agencies
- Rejected a challenge to Trump administration rules allowing employers with religious or moral objections to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees
Electoral Colleges and States
- States should be able to require their electors to vote for the candidate who won their state
Trump’s Financial Records
- Many Americans have said that the president should not be able to stop his financial documents from being turned over to Congress, but the Supreme Court couldn’t fully side with the public
- The chief justice rejected Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity”
- However, the Supreme Court suggested there are serious limits on what Congress can demand from the president, and tossed it back to the lower courts.
How do you feel about these rulings?