The Supreme Court’s fall term, which began last week, will include several important cases, including redistricting and race-based college admissions, along with a few potential cases the Court has yet to decide to hear, including challenges to the 2018 bump stock ban.
The court is hearing two cases on electoral maps, one from North Carolina and the other from Alabama.
In North Carolina’s Moore v. Harper, the Republican lawmakers are asking the court to decide whether state courts have the authority to throw out legislative redistricting maps and order new maps to be drawn.
In the Alabama case, Merrill v. Milligan, left-wing groups are challenging Alabama’s electoral maps, claiming the state violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prevents voting procedures that discriminate based on race.
The Court will also hear two cases challenging race-based admissions at both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Both schools were sued by Students for Fair Admissions which argued that racial preferences in college admissions are unconstitutional.
In addition to hearing these cases, Supreme Court may also take up two challenges to the 2018 bump stock ban. While the justices discussed the cases on September 28, it is not clear at this time whether either of them will be heard before the Court during this term.
The cases, W. Clark Aposhian v. Attorney General Garland and Gun Owners of America v. Garland, center on whether ATF erred when defining bump stocks as machine guns under a 1986 law.
Another case the Court may consider is Korf v. the United States which challenges the use of FBI filter teams by the Justice Department when reviewing documents containing possible privileged information.
The FBI used a filter team when reviewing the documents seized from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
However, the case has nothing to do with the Mar-a-Lago raid. Nor is it clear any Court ruling would affect the ongoing FBI investigation into the documents seized from Trump’s Florida home.
