Imbalance of Power

As the Supreme Court convenes, controversial cases could result in decisions as divisive as the last term

- Greg Stohr

An air of inevitability hangs over the US Supreme Court. Gone is the 8-foot-high fencing around the majestic building, erected to keep out protesters after an unprecedented leak in May revealed the court was poised to eliminate the constitutional right to abortion. But inside the marble walls, where the justices return on Oct. 3 for their next nine-month term, the court has an ambitious agenda-one by all appearances destined to fulfill more conservative wish-list items that will exacerbate the nation's political and cultural divides.

Overturning Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision in June was merely the biggest jolt in a term that ushered in major doctrinal changes. The conservative majority created a new "history and tradition" test to strike down a century-old New York restriction on concealed-carry handgun permits. The court established the "major questions doctrine" as a powerful curb on federal regulators, using it to restrict what the US Environmental Protection Agency can do to tackle climate change without clear congressional authorization. And in ruling that a public school football coach could pray at midfield after games, the justices jettisoned a 51-year-old precedent that had kept the government from promoting religion.

"This court is refashioning the law in huge ways at a very rapid pace," says Leah Litman, a University of Michigan Law School professor who's critical of the court, saying the conservative justices "just don't care" about either the law or the facts. Meanwhile, conservatives spent their summer celebrating. "It was the best Supreme Court term in living memory in terms of being faithful to the Constitution, to its original meaning, to the text of the laws they were interpreting," says Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, which has been at the forefront of the conservative push to transform the judiciary.