We The People

Supreme Court 2020 Term Preview

October 01, 2020

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The new U.S. Supreme Court term is set to begin Monday, October 5, the first day of remote oral arguments. To preview what’s ahead, Adam Liptak, Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times, and Marcia Coyle, Supreme Court correspondent for the Center’s blog Constitution Daily and Chief Washington correspondent for The National Law Journal, joined host Jeffrey Rosen. They explored how the election and the forthcoming confirmation battle over Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination might affect the Court, how the Court might shift with the addition of a new ninth justice, and the key cases to be heard this term including:

  • California v. Texas (the most recent challenge to the Affordable Care Act)
  • Fulton v. Philadelphia (a case asking whether religious organizations must allow same-sex couples to become foster parents, and whether the Court should revisit its decision in Employment Division v. Smith)
  • Torres v. Madrid (a police violence case asking when physical force constitutes a seizure under the Fourth Amendment)
  • Tanzin v. Tanvir (a lawsuit related to the “no-fly list” and whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 allows lawsuits for money damages against federal agents)
  • Carney v. Adams (a case about the First Amendment and state judges’ partisan affiliations)

FULL PODCAST

PARTICIPANTS

Adam Liptak covers the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments. A graduate of Yale Law School, he practiced law for 14 years before joining The New York Times’s news staff in 2002. He was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting. He has taught courses on the Supreme Court and the First Amendment at several law schools, including Yale and the University of Chicago.

Marcia Coyle is the Supreme Court correspondent for the National Constitution Center’s blog Constitution Daily and the Chief Washington correspondent for The National Law Journal. She has covered the Supreme Court for 25 years for numerous publications and is a regular contributor to PBS NewsHour. She is a contributing author to the book A Year in the Life of the U.S. Supreme Court and is the author of the 2013 book The Roberts Court.

Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

This episode was engineered by David Stotz, Greg Scheckler, and Jackie McDermott, and produced by Jackie McDermott. Research was provided by Alexandra "Mac" Taylor, Ashley Kemper, and Lana Ulrich.

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