The justices enter the final day of June with just two opinions remaining. It’s a big day at the court for other reasons as well: Justice Stephen Breyer will officially retire at noon on Thursday, and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in at the court in a ceremony that will be live-streamed on the court’s website. Here are brief summaries of the two cases in which we expect rulings on Thursday:
- West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (argued Feb. 28): A challenge to the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. One question before the court is whether the Republican-led states and the coal companies have a legal right to bring the case to the Supreme Court at all when the lower court’s decision is on hold until the Biden EPA issues a new rule. If they do have that right, a second question before the justices is whether the lower court’s decision violates the “major questions” doctrine — the idea that if Congress wants to give an administrative agency the power to make “decisions of vast economic and political significance,” it must say so clearly.
- Biden v. Texas (argued April 26): Whether the Department of Homeland Security must continue to enforce the Migrant Protection Protocols, a policy begun by President Donald Trump that requires asylum seekers at the southern border to stay in Mexico while awaiting a hearing in U.S. immigration court.
