The Supreme Court begins its new term on Monday.
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Court → begin → Monday
The justices have filled only part of their docket, with more cert grants still to come.
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justices → fill → grants
It is not too early to predict another good term for defenders of the Constitution, thanks to an originalist majority that takes its text and history seriously.
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that → predict → text
Here are five cases to watch closely.
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cases → watch → ?
The term opens with a case that could end one of the left’s most brazen lawfare campaigns—or drive prices at the pump even higher.
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that → open → pump
Boulder, Colorado, is suing Suncor and ExxonMobil in state court under Colorado tort law, seeking gargantuan damages for the effects of global climate change.
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Boulder → sue → change
In other words, Boulder wants Colorado law to punish these companies for emissions in every state and around the world.
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law → want → world
Dozens of states and cities have filed similar suits.
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Dozens → file → suits
An outside counsel for Boulder’s legal team has publicly described such climate litigation as effectively imposing a "carbon tax" and acknowledged that it could raise fossil-fuel prices and potentially push energy companies toward bankruptcy.
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it → describe → bankruptcy
Having failed to win their policy argument in Congress, activists are hoping they will have more success in friendly state courts.
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they → fail → courts
The principal question for the justices is whether federal law bars these claims; the Court will also consider whether it has statutory and Article III jurisdiction to hear the case.
It does.
For more than a century, the Court has treated emissions that cross state lines as a federal issue.
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that → bar → issue
The Clean Air Act includes provisions that allow a state to regulate pollution sources within its borders, but sources outside them are a different matter, as the Court previously held in a case involving nearly identical Clean Water Act provisions.
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Court → include → provisions
Underneath all of this is a basic structural principle: The Constitution treats the states as equals, and none may govern beyond its own borders.
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none → treat → borders
A clear reversal would check every state or municipality that tries to set national policy in defiance of the structural Constitution.
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that → check → Constitution
There Colorado goes again: St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy
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Colorado → go → Roy
Colorado promised every family in the state free preschool at the school of its choice, public or private.
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Colorado → promise → choice
Then it shut out Catholic preschools because they support Church teaching on sex and gender.
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they → shut → sex
In testimony highlighted by the Catholic schools, the program’s director said hypothetically that a participating preschool could seek preferences for "gender-nonconforming children" or members of "the LGBTQ community," provided the preference complied with the program’s nondiscrimination requirements.
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preference → highlight → requirements
The Court has considered similar discriminatory systems in recent years and has struck them down every time.
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Court → consider → them
Three times since 2017—in cases from Missouri, Montana and Maine—the Court has ruled that the government cannot exclude people of faith from public benefits because of their religion.
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government → rule → religion
Colorado itself has lost three major First Amendment cases for showing hostility to a baker’s faith (Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission , 2018), threatening to force a web designer to create wedding websites against her beliefs (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis , 2023), and censoring a Christian counselor’s viewpoint in talk therapy while permitting the opposite one (Chiles v. Salazar , 2026).
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Colorado → lose → Salazar
The smart money is on another Colorado loss.
3. Second Amendment: Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins
The Court consolidated two cases for argument asking whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to own an AR-15, the most popular rifle in America.
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Amendments → consolidate → America
Viramontes challenges Cook County, Illinois’ ban on so-called "assault weapons," and Grant challenges a similar Connecticut law.
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Grant → challenge → law
Under District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and a ban survives only if the state can point to historical analogues showing it fits the nation’s tradition of firearm regulation.
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it → protect → regulation
This will be an opportunity for the Supreme Court to clarify how to determine which weapons are protected as "arms" and how common they must be to be part of the right to keep and bear arms.
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they → clarify → arms
Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota
Arizona passed laws in 2022 requiring documentary proof of citizenship from people who register to vote using the state’s form and allowing officials to remove confirmed noncitizens from the rolls as a federal election approaches.
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election → pass → rolls
The Ninth Circuit blocked both provisions as preempted by the National Voter Registration Act.
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Circuit → block → Act
It also found the proof-of-citizenship requirement to be barred by a 2018 consent decree settling a lawsuit by left-wing advocacy groups, in which a former secretary of state agreed to register applicants who submitted no proof of citizenship as "federal-only" voters.
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who → find → voters
This case presents quite a spectacle: Arizona’s opponents will stand before the Supreme Court and argue that federal law forces a state to keep people it knows are noncitizens on its voter rolls.
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it → present → rolls
And part of their case rests on rules no elected representative ever passed.
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representative → rest → rules
That decree lets a single official’s settlement do what only the legislature should, handing activists something with the force of law.
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legislature → let → law
Left standing, arrangements like this can cause mischief well beyond Arizona.
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arrangements → leave → Arizona
International Partners for Ethical Care v. Ferguson
Parental rights keep returning to the Court, and this case illustrates why.
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case → return → Court
Washington amended its runaway-youth-shelter law so that when a minor is seeking so-called "gender-affirming" services, shelters no longer have to notify the parents.
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shelters → amend → parents
Instead, they notify only the state, giving the parents the type of treatment normally reserved for abusers.
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they → notify → abusers
The state may then keep them from locating their child and delay reunification until they accept the state’s approach.
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they → keep → approach
The immediate question before the Court is standing—whether these parents can sue at all because their gender-confused children, thankfully, have not yet run away.
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children → sue → Court
But parents are already affected by the new law, walking on eggshells, knowing the state would take their children’s side against them.
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state → affect → them
The Ninth Circuit dismissed that harm as speculative and self-inflicted.
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Circuit → dismiss → harm
But parents should not have to wait until a child disappears or undergoes irreversible procedures before they can defend their rights in court.
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they → have → court
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
