The U.S. Supreme Court accepted three additional cases for review during its 2021-2022 term on April 26. With the addition of these three cases, the court has agreed to hear 14 cases during the term, which is scheduled to begin on Oct. 4.
• Houston Community College System v. Wilson concerns free speech protections and limitations on an elected governing body’s authority to censure a member for their speech. The question presented to the court asks, “Does the First Amendment restrict the authority of an elected body to issue a censure resolution in response to a member’s speech?” The case originated from the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
• United States v. Zubaydah concerns the state-secrets privilege. The question the court will decide is, “Whether the court of appeals erred when it rejected the United States’ assertion of the state-secrets privilege based on the court’s own assessment of potential harms to the national security, and required discovery to proceed further under 28 U.S.C. 1782(a) against former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractors on matters concerning alleged clandestine CIA activities.” Zubaydah came from the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett concerns a person’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense under the Constitution’s Second Amendment. The question presented to the court is, “Whether the State’s denial of petitioners’ applications for concealed-carry licenses for self-defense violated the Second Amendment.” The case originated from the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing oral arguments as part of its 2020-2021 term. Its April argument sitting began on April 19 and will conclude on April 28, with the court hearing 12 hours of oral argument during that period. The court is scheduled to hear one hour of oral argument during its May sitting on May 4.
As of April 22, the court had agreed to hear 62 cases during its 2020-2021 term. Of those, 12 were originally scheduled for the 2019-2020 term but were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Five cases were removed from the argument calendar. Also as of April 22, the court had issued opinions in 30 cases this term. Six cases were decided without argument.
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