Texas pornography law, abortion, ghost guns among cases to be heard by U.S. Supreme Court
DALLAS - The United States Supreme Court opened its nine-month term Monday by letting stand the Texas law banning emergency abortions. Texas has one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. The justices were deeply divided in decisions last year, and there are a handful of cases that could divide the high court again.
It is the first of some big cases many people and civil rights groups will be watching.
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Supreme Court won't hear arguments in Texas emergency abortion case
Supreme Court justices on Monday decided to keep in place a lower court order stating hospitals cannot be required to provide pregnancy terminations that would violate Texas law.
Texas Pornography Law
Two more of the cases before the Supreme Court also come from Texas and are being closely watched by constitutional law attorney David Coale.
In one case, Texas A.G. Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the adult entertainment industry requiring pornography sites to verify the age of the users.
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Paxton has filed suit against Aylo Global Entertainment, who own several pornographic websites, claiming they are in violation of a Texas law requiring age verification on site with sexual material.
"Everybody agrees you can limit minors' access to material that's for adults, but when you do it the way Texas did, where you have to register and put your name in, there's an argument that that very quickly can become a form of censorship. And the federal courts have traditionally been very skeptical about that kind of registration type system," said Coale.
Moment of Threat Doctrine
In the second case, a Harris County deputy constable shot and killed Ashtian Barnes during a traffic stop for outstanding tolls in 2016. Barnes stopped, then began to drive away. The officer jumped on the vehicle and fired two shots.
Barnes' mother sued, saying the deadly force was excessive. The 5th Circuit found the officer behaved reasonably under the moment of threat doctrine.
"The doctrine itself isn't that big of a deal. It's one circuit's take on one particular issue, but to understand why that take is there requires you to really drill down on qualified immunity and make very sure you find exactly what it's trying to protect. And if the Supreme Court tells us that needs to be done in a different way, that affects a lot of other areas where force is used in interacting with the public," Coale said.
Transgender Rights
One of the most-watched cases could be the battle over transgender rights. The justices will weigh a Tennessee law that restricts puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. It is a 14th Amendment equal protection under the law argument.
"And I don't think they're going to fully resolve for all time all questions about the status of transgender rights and the U.S. Constitution's protection of liberty. But I do think they're going to get some ground rules and say, ‘this is going to be permissible, this isn’t, and this is the test we're going to use from now on," Coale said.
Ghost Guns
Tuesday, the high court takes up federal regulations on ghost guns, which are privately-made weapons, and they're hard for police to trace because they do not have serial numbers. The Biden administration started requiring background checks and age verification for ghost gun kits that can be bought online.
Gun rights groups and manufacturers argue the administration overstepped, and the rule should be overturned.
"The issue is, is it a law or a regulation? So what is it that we're talking about? Is it a regulation that the ATF has come up with?"
Lower courts blocked the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) regulations, siding with gun rights groups that the ATF overstepped its authority. Dallas attorney Allen Chandler, known as the firearm lawyer, says the real issue is that it is not a law, but a regulation.
The docket for this term isn’t as packed, but the conservative-majority court could yet be asked to intervene in election disputes after the ballots are cast in November.