Suspense builds for Supreme Court moves on abortion, LGBT cases

[mystery-ak]

Suspense builds for Supreme Court moves on abortion, LGBT cases
By Jacqueline Thomsen - 05/09/19 06:00 AM EDT

The Supreme Court has yet to announce whether it will take up two of this year’s most closely watched cases, fueling speculation about the justices’ closed-door deliberations.

Justices have repeatedly put off saying whether they will hear arguments in a case challenging an Indiana abortion law enacted by then-Gov. Mike Pence, instead choosing to relist the case for their weekly private conference more than a dozen times since early January.

They have done the same eight times since March for a case concerning an Oregon bakery fined for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian couple.

Court watchers said that while the content of the weekly deliberations is secret, it’s very unusual for potential cases to be listed for consideration this many times.

They also said it’s possible that the sensitivity of the topics – LGBT and abortion rights – is causing the justices to be overly cautious in deciding whether to hear oral arguments.

more
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/442806-suspense-builds-for-supreme-court-moves-on-abortion-lgbt-cases

[Elderberry]

Relist Watch SCOTUSblog 5/6/2019

https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/05/relist-watch-142/

Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., 18-8 https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/box-v-planned-parenthood-of-indiana-and-kentucky-inc/

Issues: (1) Whether a state may require health-care facilities to dispose of fetal remains in the same manner as other human remains, i.e., by burial or cremation; and (2) whether a state may prohibit abortions motivated solely by the race, sex or disability of the fetus and require abortion doctors to inform patients of the prohibition.

(relisted after the January 4, January 11, January 18, February 15, February 22, March 1, March 15, March 22, March 29, April 12, April 18 and April 26 conferences)




Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, 18-547  https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/klein-v-oregon-bureau-of-labor-and-industries/

Issues: (1) Whether Oregon violated the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment by compelling the Kleins to design and create a custom wedding cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding ritual in violation of their sincerely held religious beliefs; (2) whether the Supreme Court should overrule Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith; and (3) whether the Supreme Court should reaffirm Smith’s hybrid-rights doctrine, applying strict scrutiny to free exercise claims that implicate other fundamental rights, and resolve the circuit split over the doctrine’s precedential status.

(relisted after the March 29, April 12, April 18 and April 26 conferences)