An uptick in unanimous decisions caught U.S. Supreme Court watchers off-guard this term, but simmering beneath the surface are stark differences among the justices on the direction of the court. We’re talking big takeaways and wrapping up the term this week with the help of Law360 data editor Jackie Bell, who will break down the numbers behind the cases -- including who’s the new “Mr. Majority.”

Law360's The Term - News & Analysis on the Supreme Court

S2, E38 Term Finale: A 'Kumbaya Court'? Not So Fast

Eight years after its Shelby County decision, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has once again blunted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act over the outraged dissents of the liberal minority. This week, the hosts explore the consequences of Brnovich v. DNC and other high court action on the final day of the October 2020 term.

S2, E37: What’s Left Of The Voting Rights Act?

When a high school cheerleader posted a profane Snapchat three years ago, she could hardly have known the episode would give rise to the biggest Supreme Court ruling on student free speech rights in half a century. This week, The Term talks to the ACLU’s David Cole, who argued her case, on what the victory means. Also this week, the high court rejects NCAA rules limiting education-related compensation for college athletes, and lands on the side of property rights over organized farm labor in California.

S2, E36: Inside The ACLU's Student Speech Victory

On this week’s episode of The Term, we break down all the blockbuster decisions handed down Thursday by the Supreme Court, where the Affordable Care Act survived another GOP challenge, Nestle and Cargill defeated claims of aiding child slavery on cocoa farms and the court sided with a Catholic foster agency with a policy of refusing to certify same-sex parents.

S2, E35: ACA Lives, Foster Agency Wins In Blockbuster Day

The Term team is still waiting for a flood of opinions expected to drop by the end of the month, but that doesn’t mean we had a slow week at the high court. This week we discuss a new case taken up over government surveillance, an unsuccessful challenge to the male-only draft and a major immigration ruling dashing the hopes of many immigrants with "temporary protected status" of obtaining green cards.

S2, E34: No Green Cards After Unlawful Entry

A cop who took $5,000 to look up a stripper's license plate information may have broken department protocol and the public trust, but he did not violate federal computer crime law, according to a majority opinion handed down by the Supreme Court on Thursday. On this week’s episode of The Term we explore the closely-watched ruling, plus look at a corporate giant’s failed bid to escape a $2.1 billion product liability judgment.

S2, E33: Computer Misuse Is Not A Federal Crime

The Supreme Court handed down rulings affecting immigrants, Superfund pollution sites and more this week as it works to clear its docket of argued cases before summer recess. Law360's The Term recaps all the latest developments, including a prisoner's failed attempt to be executed by firing squad rather than lethal injection that he says will cause severe pain.

S2, E32: Supreme Court Denies Execution By Firing Squad

The U.S. Supreme Court took an extraordinary step this week when it agreed to hear a closely watched abortion case that many observers speculate could mean the end of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that has protected abortion rights for half a century. On this week’s episode of The Term, we unpack how the case landed on court’s docket and which justices are the most likely targets of advocates when this blockbuster case is argued next year. Also this week: An opinion from Monday that limited the reach of last term’s ruling that convictions by non-unanimous juries are unconstitutional; and a breakdown of some interesting data from the most recent oral argument season.

S2, E31: The Case That Will Revisit Roe v. Wade

In light of a slow news week at the Supreme Court, we take the opportunity on this week’s episode of The Term to welcome guests Vernon Burton and Armand Derfner, the co-authors of a forthcoming book examining the high court’s long, fraught history with race, from the first days of the Republic to the modern day Roberts Court.

S2, E30: A Conversation About Race And The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court heard its final oral argument of the term this week in a criminal case involving sentencing relief for crack offenders that saw some tough questions for the Biden administration. Law360's The Term dives into the case, then looks ahead to some of the biggest decisions that are expected to come by the end of June.

S2, E29: Goodbye Arguments, Opinion Season Is Upon Us

The case of a high school cheerleader whose profanity-laced Snapchat led to a suspension landed in front of the Supreme Court this week, where the justices struggled to balance punishment for disruptive online speech while avoiding all-out censorship and student expression. On this week’s episode of The Term we break down the oral argument, as well as a potential landmark gun rights case the high court added to its docket, and a “textualist showdown” that played out in an opinion handed down on Thursday involving federal immigration law.

S2, E28: Justices Stumped By Cheerleader's Angry Snapchat

With the stroke of a pen, the Supreme Court on Thursday nixed a legal strategy that the Federal Trade Commission used for many years to return billions of dollars to consumers. Law360's The Term breaks down the ruling—along with a big defeat for juvenile justice reformers and Justice Amy Coney Barrett's eye-popping book deal.

S2, E27: Justices Dismantle FTC's Billion-Dollar Weapon

Long a political non-starter, the idea of "court-packing" is now dominating Washington as Democrats in Congress push legislation to add four seats to the Supreme Court and a presidential commission studies the broader issue of court reform. Will these latest efforts go anywhere? Law360's The Term discusses on this week's episode.

S2, E26: Will These Supreme Court 'Reforms' Go Anywhere?

After a decade of litigation, Google has finally defeated a lawsuit from Oracle over the chunks of computer code Google used to develop the Android smartphone platform. This week, The Term welcomes Law360 senior intellectual property reporter Bill Donahue to explain the Supreme Court's ruling in the tech battle—plus we also look at one justice's foray into the discourse of regulating Big Tech.

S2, E25: How Google Beat Oracle After 10-Year Lawsuit

The spirit of spring has the justices cleaning out their docket this week with decisions on Florida's oyster fisheries, Facebook's class action liability and long-lived media ownership limits. The Term breaks down all the action, plus we take a deep dive into the NCAA's very bad day at the high court over its "amateurism" rules with Law360 senior sports reporter Zach Zagger.

S2, E24: NCAA Struggles To Make Case Against Athlete Pay

The Term is a podcast from Law360 for the busy U.S. Supreme Court watcher. Give us about 15 minutes each week and we'll catch you up on all the big action at the nation's highest court, along with a list of what to watch in the coming sessions. Hosts senior Supreme Court reporter Jimmy Hoover in Washington, D.C. and editor-at-large Natalie Rodriguez in New York City cut through a busy docket to focus on the key cases and developments everyone will be talking about.

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Law360's The Term - News & Analysis on the Supreme Court

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