The Supreme Court is poised to hand down decisions in crucial cases before its summer break, including challenges to state laws targeting transgender athletes, Mr. Trump's birthright citizenship executive order, and efforts by the president to remove members of independent agencies.
The final weeks of the Supreme Court 's term are fast approaching, and the justices are poised to hand down decisions in some of its most significant cases before they go their separate ways for the summer.
Before the start of July, the justices will also issue opinions in legal fights over state laws targeting transgender athletes, Mr. Trump's birthright citizenship executive order, and the president's efforts to fire members of certain independent agencies, among others. On his first day back in the White House, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship for babies born to parents who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily.
But the directive has not taken effect, since it was swiftly blocked by lower courts that found it likely unconstitutional. At issue in the case is whether Mr. Trump's executive order complies with the Constitution's Citizenship Clause and the Immigration and Nationality Act, which confer citizenship on those born in the U.S. and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof.
" If the Trump administration prevails and the Supreme Court upholds the executive order, it would upend more than 100 years of settled understanding that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to nearly all people born on U.S. soil. Twenty-seven states have enacted laws in recent years that prohibit transgender athletes from competing on girls' and women's sports teams. Challenges to restrictions in two of those states, West Virginia and Idaho, are before the court.
The cases are among the most closely watched of the term, and a decision could have implications for similar bans in more than half of the states. The question before the court is whether the laws from West Virginia and Idaho violate the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause or Title IX. Idaho was the first state in the nation to forbid transgender girls and women from playing on the team that aligns with their gender identity.
A federal appeals court ruled in 2024 that Idaho's law is likely unconstitutional. But after the Supreme Court agreed to review that decision, the transgender woman at the center of the challenge, Lindsay Hecox, said her case should be dismissed because she voluntarily agreed to drop her claims against the state.
West Virginia's law was challenged by a transgender high school student named Becky Pepper-Jackson, who began socially transitioning when she was in third grade and has taken puberty-delaying medication and hormone therapy. A federal appeals court found West Virginia's law unlawfully discriminated against Pepper-Jackson on the basis of sex. Mr. Trump has sought to expand the bounds of executive power across his second term, including by firing members of multimember boards and commissions without cause.
Among those removed by the president was Rebecca Slaughter, who served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. Slaughter was fired without cause, which clashed with a 1914 law that limited the president's ability to remove an FTC commissioner to instances of inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. She sued, and a federal appeals court said Slaughter could continue in her job at the FTC while her lawsuit proceeded.
The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the removal protections for members of the trade commission violate the separation of powers. Also at issue in the case is whether to overrule the 1935 decision in the case Humphrey's Executor v. United States. In that 90-year-old ruling, the Supreme Court said Congress could restrict the president's ability to fire officials from multi-member agencies at-will.
If Mr. Trump prevails and the Supreme Court strikes down the removal protections for members of the FTC, it would give the president more power over certain independent agencies that Congress had sought to insulate from political pressure. Among the federal officials that Mr. Trump attempted to fire was Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. No president before Mr. Trump had moved to fire a Fed governor in the central bank's 112-year history.
Bill Pulte, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, had alleged that Cook made misrepresentations on mortgage filings related to two properties before she was nominated to the Fed Board by former President Joe Biden in 2021. Citing those allegations, Mr. Trump said he had "sufficient cause" to remove Cook because of alleged "deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter.
" Cook has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. She sued to get her job back, arguing that Mr. Trump violated the Federal Reserve Act, which gives the president the authority to remove a Fed governor"for cause," though the term is not defined.
"The Supreme Court has continued considering some of the most significant cases throughout the year, including disputes over state laws targeting transgender athletes, Mr. Trump's birthright citizenship executive order, and the president's efforts to remove members of certain independent agencies," is how to best summarize it
Supreme Court Cases Pending Birthright Citizenship Transgender Athlete Restrictions Removal Protections Executive Power Separation Of Powers Federal Trade Commission Humphrey's Executor V. United States
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