The Supreme Court wrapped its term on Tuesday. The progressive notion that the justices would be a rubber-stamp for the Trump administration was a notable casualty.
In a blow to the White House, for instance, the justices overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order ending automatic citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the order violated the 14th Amendment and that the administration didn’t have the authority to unilaterally issue such a proclamation.
In other decisions this week, court rulings strengthened constitutional protections while also striking a blow for common sense:
— Fourth Amendment advocates earned a victory on Monday when the justices ruled 6-3 that “geofence” warrants — under which the authorities access location data of millions of cellphone users without judicial authority — represent a search under the Bill of Rights. The case involved a police effort to find a bank robber by ordering Google to search the location histories of every one of its users in a bid to determine who had been in the area of the crime. The majority held that this tactic does indeed represent a search, requiring an individualized warrant to secure the data.
— The justices bolstered the First Amendment on Tuesday in a ruling that struck down federal campaign finance restrictions regarding how much national party committees may spend in coordination with candidates. Justice Brett Cavanaugh, the voice of the 6-3 majority, wrote that the restrictions were a “severe infringement on First Amendment-protected political speech.” The ruling is consistent with the court’s Citizen United decision, which blocked progressive efforts to outlaw certain political speech within weeks of an election, a clear constitutional violation.
— The separation of powers doctrine that provides the scaffolding for our Constitution received a boost Monday when the justices held that the president, as the head of the executive branch, has the power to dismiss the heads of “independent” agencies created by Congress, while carving a limited exception for the Federal Reserve. Such agencies do not represent a “fourth branch of government” operating free of traditional checks and balances. “The court today takes a notable step back toward the Constitution,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion. The decision recognizes “that the president is entitled to remove a principal official who exercises executive power in his name.”
— Finally, the justices upheld state laws that ban transgender females from participating in women’s sports. The ruling is a victory for fair competition, acknowledging the biological reality that, in general, men have physical advantages over women when it comes to athletic competition.
