Monday marked day one of a new U.S. Supreme Court session.
Abortion access, gun laws and voting rights made their way on the docket by way of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, like many social wedge issues that end up before the cour.
“The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is perhaps the most aggressively conservative circuit in the
Country,” Matt Steffey, professor of law at Mississippi College, said.
The 5th circuit covers Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In the federal court system, circuit courts sit between district courts and the Supreme Court. Conservative judges dominate the lower court, with 12 of 17 judges having been appointed by Republican presidents, half of which are Trump-appointees. Four were appointed by Democratic presidents.
“It pushes the envelope even further than the Supreme Court, which has been on a conservative trajectory, with its 6-3 supermajority pushing things out further to the right than we’ve seen, in my professional lifetime,” Steffey said.
A 5th Circuit decision out of Texas could reinstate restrictions on access to the abortion medication mifepristone, an FDA-approved pill used in most abortions in the United States today.
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion and leaving laws regarding access up to states. Texas banned all abortions until recently. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in September allowing doctors to provide abortions in special circumstances.
Also out of Texas, a 5th Circuit decision could keep guns in the hands of domestic violence offenders. The 2022 case challenges a decades-old amendment to the Federal Firearms Act that prohibits those who are subject to active domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. The Supreme Court will decide whether the amendment violates the Second Amendment.
Abortion and guns overshadow environmental regulations, another issue on the Supreme Court’s docket this term, one salient in the minds of young…
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