Supreme Court to hear guns, voting, LGBT cases in October
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- The U.S. Supreme Court has lined up cases on guns, voting restrictions, LGBT rights, and immigration detention for its October term, plus corporate disputes involving ExxonMobil, Epic Games, and PepsiCo.
- Gun rights groups argue that AR-15s and similar weapons are in 'common use' and protected by Supreme Court Second Amendment precedents, while officials in Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois, call them 'weapons of war.'
- The Trump administration is backing a Republican-led bid to revive Arizona's proof-of-citizenship voter requirement and purge alleged non-citizens from rolls, which a lower court blocked as violating federal voting law.
- The justices will hear Trump's appeal on detaining convicted immigrants facing deportation without bond hearings; a lower court ruled the due process clause bars 'unreasonably prolonged' detention.
- The Archdiocese of Denver and other Catholic entities seek exemption from Colorado's preschool nondiscrimination requirement, the latest clash between religious rights and LGBT protections after the Court struck down Colorado's conversion therapy ban in March.
- ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy are asking the Court to scuttle a climate-related lawsuit by Boulder, Colorado officials, one of several big-corporation cases on the docket.
Why it matters: With a 6-3 conservative majority, the Court could expand Second Amendment protections by striking down assault-weapon bans that four appellate courts have upheld, and give the Trump administration new tools for both voter-roll purges and prolonged immigrant detention — outcomes that would reshape election administration and due process for non-citizens.
