>> He's done it for a lot of
years.
He knows that that --
>> And --
Lisa: We have so many other
decisions to talk about and I
want to talk about the student
loan decision and let's look at
quite a bit more of the other
decisions.
I want to list them for our
viewers so they can understand.
Gay rights.
The court ruled that some
businesses can reduce to work
for same sex couples and
potentially other groups of
people.
Student loans as you mentioned,
the court blocked president
Biden's loan forgiveness plan.
Election law.
Earlier this week, the court
ruled against the controversial
Independence day legislature
theory, rejecting a
republican-led attempt to have
more power over federal
elections.
And the court agreed that
Alabama and Louisiana can add at
least one more minority
district.
So the question here in all of
this is as -- Ariane you thought
affirmative action was the most
impactful case.
Does anyone think student loans
might be the most impactful
case?
>> Doctors the most direct -- it
is the most direct challenge to
president Biden himself.
We're taking a particular
interest in it.
There are so many implications
for him on a policy level and
politically.
Remember the timing that they
rolled out this -- they rolled
out the student loan relief
plan.
It was a couple of months before
the midterms.
It was certainly a way to
galvanize young voters who have
been a little bit more
lackadaisical on president Biden
than perhaps other DEM graphics
in the democratic party.
And I recall that program came
out around the same -- or that
initiative came around the same
time that this administration
announced it was forgiving
marine -- marijuana penalties
for many offenders.
And that was really seen as a
way to get young voters excited.
And I have to tell you I do a
lot of voter interinterviewsws for
A.P. Polls we have and when I
talk to voters about name
something that Biden has done
that you really like.
It's not the infrastructure law.
>> Surprise.
>> It's not the inflation
reduction act.
It is he is going to forgive my
student loan.
This matters so much to voters
which is why they have to keep
showing like they did today that
they're continuing to fight.
They're finding other ways to at
least make the burden of
payments a little bit easier.
That they're still going to keep
on fighting legally for full
relief like today.
But again, with the makeup of
this court, that is going to be
a very unlikely option.
>> And voters of color also.
Because voters of color black
and brown phots they are
disproportionately impacted by
high student loan payments and
the need to take out more
student loans when they're going
to college.
And so that is something they
have to deal with.
You talk to Democrats across the
country they are a little bit
worried about the lukewarmness
not just from young voters but
from voters of color.
Because when you talk to them,
the voters say, what have you
done for me lately, right?
They -- you know, the white
house has talked about all of
these things they've done over 2
1/2 years.
But voters want -- what have you
done for me now?
And politically, this is going
to be something that despite --
this campaign is going to have
to deal with head on.
And I was I I the briefing room
today when secretary Cardona
said we're fighting, we're
fighting, we're fighting like
800 times.
>> But he said send your payment
in.
>> Send your payment.
You owe us money.
And like that -- that doesn't
really sell that well.
And so as they move to this kind
of regulatory process, that's
going to take a long time, to
get to the end result they want,
and the supreme court may knock
that down, too.
So I -- I was just walking in
here talking to and -- and
they're like cautiously
optimistic.
They're worried about the
timing.
But they say at the end of the
day, it is good to see president
Biden doing something.
They are always a little worried
that -- will sit back and --
exactly.
Lisa: Another mammoth ruling
that we had of course is on same
sex marriage or at least that's
what the technicalities of the
ruling are about.
This idea in a Colorado case
that a woman with a graphic
design firm does not have to
design graphics for same sex
weddings.
The court ruled out of first
amendment free speech clause.
John, I'm curious, do we know
how wide this ruling could be?
Could this affect -- is this
particular to just same sex
marriage, is it much larger than
that, do we know?
John: It could go wider.
And even in the oral arguments,
they were asking about where do
you draw the line?
Coming up with hypotheticals.
Asking about a black Santa at a
mall.
Or someone who believes that the
bible teaches you that races
shouldn't be mixed.
What happens if a mixed race
couple comes in?
But the other thing that some
lgbtq+ advocates told me this
afternoon is that it's so
narrow.
It's -- the -- it has to be
something as a creative or
expression that they think --
they think they may be ok.
But I wonder if businesses
aren't going to try to redefine
themselves.
Like -- can a chef say that
cooking a meal?
Expressing myself.
This is me.
That's --
>> That's exactly what Elena
Kagan brought up in organize
amounts.
-- In oral arguments.
The baker believes he is an
artist.
The jewelry maker.
Is that an artist?
What about the limo driver?
And Elena kegan -- Kagan
pressing them saying where do
you draw the line with this
opinion?
So they may say it's narrow.
Anan they did.
All day long.
But there's a way where you
could see a lot more challenges.
A lot more people trying to sort
of define what they did or do on
the basis of speech.
And that could open up a box.
>> The other point about this
decision is something that
justice Sonya Sotomayor said in
her dissent is this is the first
time the supreme court has said
that a business has a right not
to serve -- a protected class.
>> The other interesting thing
about this.
Justice Neil Gorsuch three years
ago he was a hero to lgbtq
rights.
He wrote this opinion, and he
joined the liberals, and it was
an opinion that bolstered the
rights of workers.
And everybody was surprised.
So today, he becomes the
villain.
In his opinion, though, you
don't see a lot of language
about the lgbtq community.
He was the entire thing on
speech.
He said this is just about
speech.
And that's where you -- again,
see the divide on this court.
Because that is not how the
other side sees it.
Lisa: Moving on our buffet of
history that we've been served
up by the supreme court this
week, I want to talk about
congressional maps.
And first, the state
legislatures, the republican-led
will not be able to sort of have
increased power over election
law and also Alabama, Louisiana,
could see changes, likely will
see changes in their maps.
You and I were texting about
this.
My sources, they were into these
cases.
Why did this matter?
Seung min: Well, it matters
first of all, that it was --
just interesting because it was
surprising.
It kind of went against what you
expected of conservative
majority of the supreme court to
do.
But it's really fascinating in
terms of the 2024 elections.
You're looking at the maps in
Alabama and Louisiana.
So Louisiana, there are
circumstances congressional
districts, five are majority
white.
Even though the population of
Louisiana I believe is one third
African-American.
A similar breakdown in Alabama
where you have seven
congressional districts.
A quarter of the population is
African-American.
But yet six are majority white.
So the supreme court tells them,
no, you have to redraw the maps
to make it more fair.
In theory, this could add one
more majority black district.
We know black voters are very
pro-democratic, very -- lean
more toward the democratic
party.
So normally, like not -- not
usually interested -- this
narrow majority and Kevin
Mccarthy's house where he
controls just the five-seat
majority.
Every seat is going to matter.
So ific pick up a seat in
Alabama or Louisiana where
Democrats were not expecting,
this could be a very, very
interesting --
Lisa: It could be forever seats,
too.
2024.
Eugene.
Somebody was talking earlier
about the Biden administration,
president Biden not tackling
reform to the court.
But 2024, supreme court, itself,
how much do you think an issue
that could be -- how much is the
Biden white house going to try
and sell the idea that we have
got to keep -- keep ready to
replace justices?
Eugene: Yeah.
It's going to be central, right?
Because to them, and they did it
in 2022 they say give us
senators who will let us get
around the filibuster.
Give us more -- give us the
house so we can do what we
promised.
But voters are getting sick of
that.
Right?
Voters are like we went to the
polls.
We gave you the house -- senate
and house and they don't care
about arcane rules of the
senate.
How things work in the house.
They want to see results.
And so this administration and
this campaign will have to
figure out how to say to voters,
this is actually what we're
going to do.
We promised it.
And this -- that aspect that you
could have these congressional
districts where they could have
that, getting voters to the
polls based off of abortion.
Based off of student loans.
Based off of all these things
this administration has been
saying they want to do and is
very popular with the American
people, Democrats aren't always
very good at that.
Getting people -- people angry
it seems they are changing that
up.
And there's an opportunity for
them but they have to do it
right.
Lisa: I am trying to fit a lot
into a very few pages left.
But I want to in our last
minutes, briefly say somehow
consequential do you think this
supreme court term was, John?
John: They have redefined and
reshaped the contours of society
in really big ways.
I mean, not just the abortion
ruling, the affirmative action,
there are just -- so many places
they have made such a huge
impact on people.
>> Second amendment.
John: Yes.
Exactly.
>> Religious liberty.
Another second amendment case.
The interesting thing of having
covered so many nomination
hearings when Donald Trump
really moved to change the face
of the court and a lot of people
weren't paying a ton of
attention during these
nomination hearings, well, guess
what?
Now you're really seeing that
this is Donald Trump's most
lasting legacy.
Eugene: Big because they're also
chipping away at the
administrative state, right?
They are doing things where the
executive actions don't hold as
much teeth.
And so how do white houses in
the future deal with that?
Lisa: Last word to you.
>> And just so many -- like
tangible, practical impacts.
You have college admissions
offices rushing to revise their
procedures.
Or figure out the impact.
But yet all the political
consequences of all these
rulings really interesting to
watch for all of us.
Lisa: Among the consequences, I
suspect is exhaustion for
supreme court reporters.
We are very grateful to both of
you and for your time and we
have to leave it there for now.
Thank you to everyone on the
panel for joining us.
I hope you all are having some
time off soon.
I know some of you are.