The U.S. Supreme Court is entering its most consequential month in years with a series of significant decisions on the horizon, according to CNN's reporting.
The court is weighing 26 decisions expected to be decided by the end of June, and the Trump administration has taken an active role in all but one of those, and CNN reported that an explosive confrontation is looming.
"The Supreme Court is facing an extraordinary showdown with Donald Trump as the justices scramble to finish more than two dozen opinions before the end of the month — with a president who will lash out if any decisions don’t go his way," the network reported. "All of it will play out amid an odd political dynamic with the president, who has made clear he will use his bully pulpit to strike out at the court in unusually harsh terms if he loses."
The 79-year-old president made history as the first sitting president to attend an oral argument, although he left about 90 minutes later, and he has buttered up the court's conservatives by inviting them to a state dinner with King Charles III and publicly praised the justices who attended the swearing-in of Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh.
“This court has a long-term ideological project and some of these cases are squarely within it,” said Ben Wizner, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “But I do think the court has lines, and I think we’ve seen some of those already.”
At the center of the docket are cases examining Trump's power to dismiss officials at independent federal agencies. In one, Trump is seeking to fire Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, over alleged mortgage fraud — a claim Cook denies. In another, he is attempting to remove Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission, arguing presidents should not need to show cause before dismissing such officials. Oral arguments suggested the court may be more receptive to Trump's position in the FTC case than in the Fed dispute, which justices appear to view as constitutionally distinct given the central bank's historic economic role.
Also before the court is Trump's executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship — the principle, enshrined in the 14th Amendment and affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1898, that anyone born on American soil is a citizen. The administration argues that precedent has been misread for over a century. Chief Justice John Roberts pushed back sharply during arguments, noting that while the world may have changed, "it's the same Constitution." Trump, anticipating defeat, has already taken to social media to pre-emptively condemn the expected ruling.
On guns, the court appears ready to narrow a federal law barring drug users from owning firearms — putting the administration in the unusual position of opposing the NRA. On transgender rights, the justices are weighing state bans on trans girls competing in girls' sports, with signals pointing toward upholding them.
Perhaps most consequential for November's midterm elections are cases on campaign spending limits and mail-in ballot deadlines. Rulings favorable to Republican positions in both could reshape how Americans vote and how campaigns are funded for years to come.