The last scheduled week of arguments in the Supreme Court’s current term features the high-profile Trump travel-ban case and yet another case about discrimination against voters.
There are six cases listed this week for arguments in front of the nine Justices, and they likely will be the last cases heard by the Court before late June, barring an unforeseen emergency.
On Monday, the Justices will consider the fate of administrative law judges at the Security and Exchange Commission in Lucia v. SEC.
On Tuesday, the case of Abbott v. Perez deals with a dispute in Texas about the drawing of election districts, and if the composition of the districts discriminates based on racial and ethnic factors.
The dispute goes back to 2011, when Texas had to reconfigure its election districts after it added 4 million residents in the 2010 census. After a series of legal cases, a three-judge federal district panel found that parts of the approved maps diluted Hispanic voting and represented racial gerrymandering. Texas is appealing that decision. The state says it was using maps approved in an earlier district court ruling.
The second case on Tuesday is Animal Science Products, Inc. v. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. , and it will feature attorneys representing the United States and Chinese governments. Animal Science claimed Hebei Welcome engaged in fixing prices of Vitamin C exports. Hebei cited a statement from the Chinese government that it had conducted its pricing in the proper context of that country’s laws. After a jury here awarded Animal Science a verdict for $150 million, a federal appeals court overturned the verdict, saying the U.S. court should defer to the interpretation offered by China’s government.
The lone case on Wednesday is the well-publicized Trump v. Hawaii. The Court will consider the state of Hawaii’s claim that President Donald Trump imposed an unconstitutional “Muslim ban” when he ordered strict new limits on entry into the U.S. by foreign nationals from six nations with Muslim-majority populations and if the Trump order issued in September is illegal under federal immigration laws or federal procedural rules.
