October 4, 2021
The Supreme Court is back in session for its new term. And for the first time in more than a year – the Justices are back on the bench in person.
And in case you haven’t heard — this term is going to make a lot of headlines.
That’s because the court will be taking on some blockbuster cases including, cases that take on religious liberties, guns rights and of course abortion — among many others.
The case everyone’s talking about will happen on December 1st. That’s the day the Justices will hear a case out of Mississippi that directly challenges Roe v Wade. Of almost 50 years ago Roe vs Wade made abortion legal throughout the country but this Mississippi case directly challenges that by banning abortions after 15-weeks.
In November the Justices will hear a case that challenges the New York restriction on concealed carry firearms permits. That law bars people from getting permits unless they show they have “proper cause” to carry one. The court will consider whether rejection of a person’s permit based on “self-defense” as one of the “proper causes” violates the Second Amendment.
A few days after the Mississippi case, in December — the Justices will consider whether the state of Maine can exclude religious schools from state-funded school tuition programs. Currently the state bans the use of state-provided financial aid so students can attend religious schools but allows the financial aid for students who don’t live near a public school to attend other non-religious private or public schools.
It’s important for you to understand – just because the Justices will hear these cases in November and December doesn’t mean there will be decisions in those months. Usually, justices reveal their rulings during the following summer.
PLUS
Time is ticking and there’s still no resolution to the debt ceiling debate. So, yes – according to the Treasury Secretary — the US government is still set to default on its debt by October 18 and you already know those consequences. I discussed them in these to videos pinned to my page.
In fact, the president described it this way today – he said a meteor is about to crash into our economy.
There are some technical advances in this debate you should know about.
Over the weekend the Senate parliamentarian said – yes technically democrats can use the budget reconciliation process to deal with the debt ceiling without any republican support. But Democrats don’t want to do that for a couple of reasons.
One — it’s a super complicated process that takes time – and that timing could push past the October 18th deadline. Which is a problem.
Two – traditionally – raising or suspending the debt ceiling has always been a bipartisan process. Both parties have always believed – they both participate in creating this debt by passing these spending bills so both parties are technically responsible for paying the bill.
If you’ve been following me – you know I’ve been telling you for almost two weeks – that raising or suspending the debt ceiling does *not* authorize any new spending. It only pays for the bills we’ve already racked up.
But also –the Republican senate minority leader has been saying since the summer that Republicans won’t get involved in raising or suspending the debt ceiling. His position is democrats should do it on their own.
Last week – Democrats tried to do it on their own through some procedural maneuvers in the senate to pass the house debt ceiling suspension bill I told you about in this video with just a simple majority but Republicans objected to that too. So far neither side is backing down and the financial markets are starting to get concerned.
