The Supreme Court kicks off its new term on Monday, with several high-profile cases on the docket -- including those related to issues like gun safety, transgender rights and free speech.

What You Need To Know

  • The Supreme Court begins its new term on Monday, with several high-profile issues at stake

  • Early next week, the high court will hear a challenge related to federal regulations of so-called "ghost guns"

  • Later in the term, the justices will hear a challenge to Tennessee’s law prohibiting doctors from prescribing gender-transition care to transgender minors

  • The Court will also consider whether to strike down Texas’s effort to limit kids access to adult content on the internet

On October 8, they’ll hear arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok. The case is a challenge to federal regulations of so-called "ghost guns" that can be purchased as a kit.

“The argument the federal government is making is that under the Gun Control Act (of 1986), that counts as a firearm," Georgetown Law professor Stephanie Barclay tells Spectrum News.

The rule from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms does not constitute a ban on these devices, Barclay explains, “but they are saying those types of firearms should be subject to the same regulations that other firearms are as well, including requirement a serial number, requiring background checks.”

The federal government did already score a small win in this case when the justices declined to put the rule on hold.  

Later in the term, the justices will hear U.S. v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee’s law prohibiting doctors from prescribing gender-transition care to transgender minors.

The state passed SB1 in 2023, and more than 20 other states have instituted similar measures. Supporters say such treatments are not suitable for kids. The American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees, and advocates point out puberty blockers and other treatments remain available to minors who are prescribed them for non-gender identity reasons.

The question for the Court, Barclay says, “is whether that distinction that Tennessee is making when it comes to these types of medical procedures violate the Equal Protection Clause.”

The Court will also consider whether to strike down Texas’s effort to limit kids access to adult content on the internet when it hears Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton. The state is ordering websites with a certain threshold of explicit material to verify users’ ages before they can view it.

“There are already laws that say it is permissible for government to regulate more strictly sexual material that is available to minors as opposed to adults,” explains Barclay. But it can still be hard to predict what this group of justices will do. “It will be interesting to see if they have different analysis based in text and history that informs the way they’re approaching the question.”

As the term begins, there are not any cases related to the 2024 presidential election on the docket, but that could change after votes are cast. Three of the current justices were appointed by then-president Donald Trump, and he has picked up some wins from the court since then such as the decision not to let Colorado remove him from the ballot, as well as its ruling in the former president's immunity appeal in his federal election subversion case.

But the Court has also ruled against him, including in his efforts to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory.

“I think it’s absolutely not a foregone conclusion that this court would approach a case like that in any way that put the thumb on the scale in the favor of any particular candidate,” sums up Barclay.