The last week of any Supreme Court term is usually pretty packed as the justices put the finishing touches on the last of their opinions. This last term’s final week was particularly rough. Several closely watched cases disappointed by avoiding broader issues on technical or procedural grounds, especially with regard to gerrymandering. Other cases made sweeping reversals whose effects might take time to see. Perhaps most controversially, the Court upheld Trump’s travel ban as a lawful exercise of executive power. And a lot of last-minute decisions were 5-4 splits right down the Court’s well-accepted ideological fissure.
Following are some highlights (mostly gleaned from Oyez’s lengthier summaries and supplemented in places by additional sources) from only the last ten calendar days of the Court’s term, organized by topic and presented in the form “case — vote (majority author) — holding” with details on facts and opinions.
Continue reading “busy final days for an often divided 2017-2018 Supreme Court”