Topline
The Supreme Court’s 2025-2026 term starts on Monday, which already promises to be filled with blockbuster cases as the court prepares to rule on the legality of transgender athletes, LGBTQ conversion therapy, tariffs and potentially numerous key Trump administration policies.
The U.S. Supreme Court starts its 2025-2026 term on Monday, hearing cases on tariffs, transgender athletes and more.
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Key Facts
The Supreme Court’s term begins Monday and will run through the end of June 2026.
Trump Tariffs: The court will hear oral arguments Nov. 5 on several lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which argue the president does not have authority to issue such sweeping tariffs under federal law, after two lower courts both agreed with the plaintiffs and ruled the tariffs are unlawful—though they’ve still remained in place for now.
Trump Firing Board Members: The Supreme Court will decide this term whether to overturn a longtime precedent that largely shields presidents from firing members of independent federal boards—as Trump has frequently done—as the court takes up a dispute over the president’s firing of a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission.
In a separate case, the court will similarly consider whether Trump can fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, after justices have so far let Cook stay in her job while the case remains pending, and suggested there’s a higher bar for Trump to disrupt staffing at the Fed.
Conversion Therapy: Among the first cases the court will consider this term is Chiles v. Salazar, which challenges Colorado’s ban on LGBTQ “conversion therapy” for minors and asks justices to more broadly decide whether laws that “[censor] certain conversations between counselors and their clients based on the viewpoints expressed” are constitutional—potentially legalizing “conversion therapy” nationwide.
Transgender Athletes: Justices will consider multiple cases regarding the legality of state bans on transgender women in sports, as challengers argue the laws violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
Campaign Finance: The court could issue a major ruling on campaign finance this term, as it weighs in on a case over restrictions on political parties’ spending in conjunction with political candidates—a dispute that was first brought by now-Vice President J.D. Vance when he was in the Senate.
Gun Control: Justices announced last week they’re taking up a case over a Hawaii gun control law, which prohibits people from carrying handguns on private property without the property owner’s permission, teeing up a potentially major ruling on gun rights after the Supreme Court has previously rolled back gun control restrictions.
What Major Cases Could The Supreme Court Still Take Up?
In addition to the cases already set for oral arguments, the justices have already been asked to weigh in on several high-profile disputes. The court has been asked to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, as Kim Davis, the former clerk who gained notoriety for refusing to grant same-sex marriage licenses in 2015, has once again brought her case to the Supreme Court. Filings in that case are still coming in before the court rules on whether or not it will take it up, so any decision likely won’t come until later in October at the earliest. The court is also likely to hear numerous other disputes this term considering Trump administration policies beyond tariffs and board member firings. Among them is the president’s effort to undo birthright citizenship, as the Trump administration has already asked the court to take up the issue again after its high-profile ruling on the issue in June. While the court ruled then that lower district courts cannot issue blanket rulings that block Trump’s policies nationwide, Trump now wants the court to consider the merits of his birthright citizenship order itself, after numerous lower judges have ruled it’s unconstitutional.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Conviction Stands
One case the court won’t be hearing this term is that of Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell. The court announced Monday it rejected Maxwell’s request for the court to take up her appeal of her conviction on sex trafficking charges, as Maxwell argued Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement prohibited the government from bringing charges against her. The decision means Maxwell’s conviction and 20-year prison sentence will stand.
What We Don’t Know
What other Trump administration policies the court could issue major rulings on—but there could be a lot. There are hundreds of cases pending in lower courts involving the Trump administration and its policies, and it remains to be seen which cases will ultimately make their way to the Supreme Court and be scheduled for oral arguments. The high court is also expected to continue issuing numerous quicker rulings regarding Trump policies on the court’s “shadow docket,” meaning justices issue rulings without fully scheduling the cases for oral arguments. Those rulings are typically interim rulings that decide whether to block policies or keep them in place while litigation over them proceeds in lower courts, which means the cases are still moving forward and could ultimately return to the Supreme Court again and be heard for oral arguments. There are a few major cases already pending on the court’s “shadow docket” as this term begins, including disputes on transgender Americans’ passports, deportations of immigrants and the Google Play store.
Big Number
42%. That’s the share of Americans who trust the Supreme Court as of September, according to Gallup, which continues a trend over the past few years of public trust in the court being at all-time lows. The 42% is slightly above where the public was at earlier this year, as only 39% reported approving of the high court in July, marking a record low in the 25 years Gallup has been tracking the issue. Polling suggests the public views the 6-3 conservative court as being too far to the right, with Gallup finding a 43% plurality view the justices as being “too conservative.” That marks a record in Gallup’s polling, coming after the court has disproportionately upheld the Trump administration’s policies in rulings this year since the president took office.