Speaker 1: Welcome back to the show. So we're still awaiting a number of crucial decisions
from the Supreme Court. And with their term expected to come to an end at the end of June,
it's shaping up to be a wild week in politics. Obviously, the big one on everyone's minds right
now is the abortion rights decision. We believe that the court is expected to overturn Roe versus
Wade in the coming days or weeks. But there's also some other important decisions upcoming that
I thought that it would bring to your attention, including on issues like environmental protection,
gun control and the Trump era remain in Mexico policy. So let's go through them,
starting with the big one, abortion Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health Organization.
That's the name of the case that's expected to be decided on and the policy that makes abortion bans
in Mississippi after 15 weeks outside of limited circumstances like medical emergencies. We know
that based on the leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito back in February, that it's
believed that the court will rule in favor of the Mississippi law and go broader to throw out the 50
years of precedent that is Roe versus Wade and the 30 year old Casey versus Planned Parenthood
decision. There is hope among progressives that between when this draft was written and now that
Chief Justice John Roberts was able to pick off one or two conservative members of the court
and get them to change their mind. But given how much of a hot button political topic this is and
how Republicans have tried for decades to overturn Roe versus Wade, I wouldn't hold my breath for it.
Right. It seems like Roe versus Wade likely will be overturned, but hopefully I'm proven wrong.
The question then will be if Roe versus Wade is overturned, will we see this large public outrage
and will this get a lot of attention? Because maybe you can argue you've already let the
air out of the balloon because we found out about this leak decision back in May. So is this already
expected? Will there not be that much backlash? We'll just have to wait and see or hopefully we
don't wait and see because it doesn't end up actually happening. But we'll find out soon.
There's also this case on the docket called West Virginia versus Environmental Protection Agency,
which is all about the federal government's ability to create environmental regulations.
A bunch of Republican attorneys general from states with a big fossil fuel industry presence
like West Virginia argue that the EPA and other executive branch agencies should not be allowed
to set their own rules and regulations in place when it comes to things like regulating greenhouse
gas emissions and that only Congress should be allowed to do that. It's another one of these
examples of Republicans waiting and waiting until they had a conservative majority in
the court to bring up these issues to the High Court. And now that they have that majority,
they want to strike while the iron is hot. So we'll see how that ruling goes. There's also a
gun control measure, case called New York State Rifle and Pistol Association versus Bruin, which
is the biggest gun case that the court has ruled on since the D.C. versus Heller case back in 2008.
That decision had to do with whether an individual has the right to have a gun inside their home.
This case has to do with whether a person has the right to have a gun outside of their home.
New York, as we know, has very strict gun control measures, and citizens have to show a proper cause
in order to get a concealed carry permit. So if this case goes in the right wing's favor,
we may see many of these gun control measures across the states be overturned effectively and
maybe concealed carry will be the law across the land. We'll just have to find out. And obviously
that has big implications in the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo. And we've all day. And then
finally we have Biden versus Texas, which is over the immigration policy known as Remain in Mexico.
That requires people seeking asylum to stay in Mexico while they await their hearings, which can
often be very dangerous for them. And then they're often subject to the will of Mexican officials,
and they have to wait for months or years up until their court date in the US comes up. And
so the Biden administration has tried twice to end the policy, but lower courts have rescinded it,
meaning that it's now going up to the Supreme Court. So we'll soon find out the ruling on this
one. There's also another eight or so decisions upcoming. So a lot to be had soon. And, you know,
this kind of goes back to the conversation we often have about how elections have consequences,
because, of course, Republican presidents over the years have been able to put justices on the court
that get approved by a largely Republican Senate. And, you know, if we had Democratic presidents
and senators over the years, we probably would have more left wing justices and we wouldn't be
in the mess that we're in right now. It looks like a lot of these decisions are not going to
go in our favor. Hopefully some of them do, though, and we'll just have to wait and see,
but we'll probably know soon. And that's the latest on the Supreme Court and their
upcoming decisions as we await the official Supreme Court decision on abortion rights.