Previews of the 2012-2013 Term

• Panel discussion with Paul Clement and Tom Goldstein, hosted by the Heritage Foundation.
• ACLU’s key cases for the upcoming Term.
• C-SPAN’s video related to the Supreme Court, including remarks from Elena Kagan and a recent panel at the Cato Institute.

Cases we’re watching

• Fisher v. University of Texas: Does the University of Texas at Austin’s use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions violate the Fourteenth Amendment? Here’s the Case Made Simple, by SCOTUSblog.
• Florida v. Jardines and Florida v. Harris: Does it violate the Fourth Amendment for police officers to use drug-sniffing dogs outside a home without a warrant? Is an alert by a drug-sniffing dog enough to establish probable cause for the search of a vehicle? Here’s the Cases Made Simple, by SCOTUSblog.
• Anticipated case(s) on the Voting Rights Act: Nix v. Holder and Shelby County v. Holder have been appealed to the Court, challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional. The Court may choose to take both, one, or neither of these cases. Here’s the Cases Made Simple, by SCOTUSblog.
• Anticipated case(s) on same sex marriage: Several petitions for cert have been filed regarding marriage, asking whether the Constitution requires full marriage equality, how far government may go to promote or prevent it, and how national and state governments divide up the power to regulate it. Most important are a challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a challenge to California’s voter-approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. It is widely expected that the Court will take at least one of the DOMA cases, as the federal law was struck down by a lower court and the Supreme Court almost always grants review in that case. Here’s the Cases Made Simple, by SCOTUSblog.