What's Left at SCOTUS? A Rundown of the Decisions We Can Expect on Friday

It's been a very active term at the Supreme Court this year, and we are now truly in the home stretch. With 10 cases left to be decided and only Thursday listed as a decision day, there was some speculation the court might release all 10 at once — or possibly announce one more decision day.

Rather than bombard us with 10 in one day, the Chief Justice announced Thursday morning (after the court issued just four opinions) that the remaining decisions would be handed down on Friday.

That leaves us with six to go. Below is just a brief rundown as to each (in the order that they were argued), so you can know what to look out for on Friday morning (beginning at 10:00 AM Eastern):

Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton - Texas has a law requiring online "adult entertainment" sites to restrict minors' access to sexual materials with age verification. It now faces a First Amendment challenge, and the question is whether the law must withstand the heightened "strict scrutiny" examination or need only meet the "rational basis" standard.
Louisiana v. Callais - This one involves redistricting. A Louisiana federal court found that the state likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by failing to create a second minority-majority district. The legislature redrew the map with two majority-Black districts, but the new map was then challenged by a group of voters who maintained that, in itself, was impermissible racial gerrymandering, while the legislature maintains it was political, not racial.
Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research - Congress created the Universal Service Fund to subsidize telephone and high-speed internet service for underserved areas. The FCC created a private non-profit to administer the fund, and a consumer group challenged this as a violation of the non-delegation doctrine (i.e., the principle that Congress cannot pawn off its legislative responsibilities on other entities).
Kennedy v. Braidwood - This case involves a challenge to the constitutionality of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of "independent experts" which sits under the HHS umbrella and issues clinical recommendations as to what preventive medical services must be covered by insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The plaintiffs, who have religious objections to some of the recommendations, maintain that the task force should be appointed by the president and approved by the Senate.
Mahmoud v. Taylor - This is the Maryland case where parents (including Muslim, Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox adherents) contend that their elementary school-aged children should not be compelled to participate in LGBTQ curriculum/instruction — i.e., that they should be able to opt their kids out of the gender/sexuality instruction. The issue is whether the inability to opt out infringes on their freedom of religion.
Trump v. CASA - This is three consolidated cases involving President Trump's executive order regarding birthright citizenship, with the issue being not the substance of the order itself (we're not there yet), but rather, whether the district court judges who issued injunctive relief in the cases had the jurisdiction to issued nationwide/universal injunctions prohibiting the administration from implementing the order anywhere in the country.

My One Definitive Takeaway From SCOTUS Argument on Birthright Citizenship

Technically, that last case (on birthright citizenship) could be held up, since it is not a case on the merits, but rather on the procedural issue, and it came to the court via its Emergency Docket. However, the likelihood is that the court will include it among Friday's rulings.

We are also awaiting the court to issue orders in some of the other Emergency Docket cases, such as in the D.V.D. v. DHS case — those rulings could come at any time and consist of temporary or permanent stays (or denial of them), and not necessarily include full opinions.

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