ACS Releases Statement on U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024-2025 Term

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez, media@acslaw.org

Washington, DC – The American Constitution Society today released the following statement from Interim President Zinelle October in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024-2025 Term.

“Over the course of its most recent term, the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated that it remains committed to reshaping the law to fit the demands of the conservative legal movement while using procedure and process to enable some of the most harmful policies of the Trump administration.

This term we have witnessed the Court willfully ignore the clear requirements of the Equal Protection Clause to sanction a state’s prohibition on medically approved, potentially life-saving health care for transgender youth. As a part of a years-long trend, the Court has further weaponized the First Amendment to empower some parents with near-veto authority over public school curricula based on their personal religious beliefs, while denying the chilling effect a state’s age verification law will have for protected free speech online. The Court has undermined Medicaid’s protection of a patient’s right to seek treatment from a qualified provider of their choosing, allowing states to make healthcare choices for their residents based on politics rather than what’s best for the patient.

The Court has also used its shadow docket to enable the Trump administration to pursue some of its most extreme policies and emboldened the administration’s disregard for the separation of powers. The administration has pushed dangerous and paper-thin interpretations of laws like the Alien Enemies Act, the Convention Against Torture, and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship to justify immigration policies that are plainly illegal or unconstitutional. Yet, the Supreme Court has found that the “irreparable harm” the government would suffer if it was not allowed to immediately pursue these extreme policies outweighs the real and lasting harm these policies will cause to vulnerable communities throughout the country.

In these and so many other instances over the past eight months, this Court has undermined its own legitimacy by allowing partisan preferences to override sound legal analysis by sanctioning, whether explicitly or implicitly, this administration’s lawless power grabs, and by diminishing the rule of law and the constitutional structures that are meant to protect our rights and maintain accountability for those who lead our government.

This Court is in crisis. The damaging decisions coming out of this term, like too many in recent years, confirm the critical role courts play in either protecting or harming our democracy. To avoid further damage, we must demand that those nominated and confirmed to lifetime judicial appointments represent a diverse and qualified pool of jurists who are committed to the rule of law and upholding our fundamental rights.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
The American Constitution Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that redress the founding failures of our Constitution, strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and realize the promise of equality for all, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and other historically excluded communities. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org.