Supreme Partial Justice

U.S. Supreme Court building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As another U.S. Supreme Court session concludes for the summer, we're getting the usual run of controversial decisions and what cases the justices want to hear next fall.  All this with a full bench too, as Neil Gorsuch joined in halfway through after being confirmed.

This year's prize for the most controversial decision goes to the Court's partially upholding President Donald Trump's travel ban.  It bars people from six Muslim-majority countries--Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen--from entering the U.S. unless they already have an existing relationship such as relatives, students and workers.  It's not the total ban the President sought in the name of national security, nor is it the repudiation of Trump's executive orders that lower courts have blocked in the name of civil liberties.  But it'll have to do until the Court decides on the constitutional issues in the next session.  By then, the 90-day ban should be over with.

Elsewhere, the Court ruled in favor of same sex couples in Arkansas who claimed that they were discriminated against because their kids' birth certificates were treated differently than other couples.  The justices will also hear the case of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake for a same sex wedding, citing religious beliefs.  They won't, however, hear arguments for and against carrying guns in public.

The makeup of the Supreme Court is always a concern, and if the reports are true, the Republicans and President Trump will soon be picking someone who will make the Court more conservative than it already is.  Justice Anthony Kennedy is reportedly thinking of stepping down, either before the next term or afterwards.  If that is the case, the fate of the Constitution lies in whoever replaces them.