Tipsheet

We'll Have to Wait Until July for Some Major SCOTUS Opinions

Earlier on Thursday, as Madeline covered, the U.S. Supreme Court released their decision on Moyle v. United States, allowing Idaho to move forward with performing abortions in "emergency abortion care" situations. This looks to be one of the few major opinions the Court handed down today, and so some decisions will be handed down in July. This includes the most eagerly awaited opinions, such as those to do with January 6 convictions as well as presidential immunity for Donald Trump.

As The Hill reported, Chief Justice John Roberts failed to make an announcement that Friday will be the last day for opinions:

The Supreme Court is increasingly signaling it won’t release its final opinions this term until July. 

By tradition, Chief Justice John Roberts on the penultimate opinion day announces the next one will be the final day.  

But Roberts made no such announcement Thursday, suggesting that Friday’s scheduled opinion release is not the final day, and the court won’t finish its work until next week. 

It's worth pointing out, as the article mentions, that handing down decisions by the end of June is more of "a self-imposed deadline" that the justices have. 

Since The Hill's article first was published as a breaking news alert, Fox News' Shannon Bream posted that Monday has been added for a day of opinions, bringing us to July 1, though there's no indication yet if another day will be added from there.

There's still seven decisions we're waiting on. In addition to the Fischer v. United States and Trump v. United States cases mentioned above, we're also watching cases on the Chevron doctrine.

Legal expert Jonathan Turley took note of Roberts' lack of statement before the Monday date was added. He noted that if Friday were to be the last day, it would mean "John Roberts has decided to hold the World Series, the World Cup, and the Super Bowl on the same day. It would be quite a day to behold."

The lack of the presidential immunity decision means there won't be an outcome to be discussed for the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden later on Thursday. Reporters from CNN, which is moderating the debate, connected the lack of a decision and the debate.

In a statement for Townhall, however, the Committee for Justice's Curt Levey urged caution, especially with all the factors involved as to why we're having to wait until July. 

"While it is unusual for the Supreme Court to go past the end of June in issuing decisions, some people are trying to read too much into it," Levey said when asked about some of the reactions such as those from CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere. "It is simply a result of the Court still having seven decisions to finish after the ones it issued today. That should not be surprising given the large number of important and controversial cases the Court tackled this term, including ones like the Trump immunity case that it heard very late in the term."