U.S. Supreme Court 2022-2023 Preview

The U.S. Supreme Court started its session earlier this month after a blockbuster session that ended in June. The court is expected to take up several major cases again. This is also the first session for new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Arizona State University Law Professor Paul Bender and Stephen Montoya from Montoya, Lucero and Pastor gives us updates on what to expect.

When concerning the massive decision of overturning Roe v. Wade, it’s possible for a decision like this to be continued into the next session.

“How it spills over remains to be seen. It could spill over in a rolling way, so that the court precedes to reverse other precedents with which it disagrees, they certainly have this opportunity in this term. Or, because of the public backlash, from the reversal of Roe v. Wade, they might actually slow down and not proceed to overrule long term precedents so rapidly,” Montoya said.

Montoya’s prediction is that they will overrule some longstanding precedents.

Moore v. Harper is a case that will be looked at during this session. It involves a North Carolina gerrymandered map. The state supreme court struck it down. But who has the authority to do this when it comes to elections?

“That is exactly the question,” Montoya said.

According to the constitution, state legislatures can decide when and where the elections for representatives and senators take place.

“The question in Moore v. Harper is whether or not the state constitution constrains the state’s electoral decisions. In this particular case, the state supreme court said that the gerrymandered map of North Carolina violated the state constitution,” Montoya said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently said that it won’t decide on a political gerrymandering case in the constitution.

“The North Carolina Supreme Court wants to use the North Carolina constitution to do something that the Supreme Court wouldn’t do with the U.S. constitution,” Bender said.

The whole point of the state constitution is that it can have different laws and points, according to Bender.