EYDER PERALTA, HOST:
The Supreme Court is entering the final weeks of this term with decisions in nearly two dozen cases likely before the end of the month, including some that may be blockbusters. We're joined now by NPR Supreme Court correspondent Carrie Johnson to give us the rundown. Hey, Carrie.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hey. How are you?
PERALTA: Good. Carrie, the Supreme Court hasn't yet ruled on birthright citizenship. What's at stake here?
JOHNSON: The biggest case of this term and the one that's most important to President Trump involves immigration, specifically that executive order he signed on Day 1 after he returned to the White House. That order would strip the guarantee of birthright citizenship to babies born on American soil. For more than a century, people have understood the 14th Amendment to ensure all persons born here are Americans. At oral argument, the Trump administration had a rough go of things. Even several of the conservative justices cast doubt on the administration's position - most notably, Chief Justice John Roberts, who told the solicitor general, it's a new world, but it's the same Constitution.
PERALTA: And the president has another immigration policy under review at the Supreme Court, temporary protected status for people who can't safely return to their home countries. What's happening with that case?
JOHNSON: This dispute involves the decision to revoke that temporary protected status for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria. They'd been covered under a program designed for people from countries that have been torn apart by war or natural disasters, and they got protection from deportation and temporary work status here in the U.S. But the Homeland Security Department revoked that status, and the question is whether federal courts can review those decisions.
PERALTA: Carrie, President Trump famously says he likes to fire people. Now the justices are reviewing his power to fire government officials, right?
JOHNSON: There are two outstanding cases about the president's removal power. One involves a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission that Trump fired last year without giving a good cause. A federal law says the White House would need to show inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance. Ninety years ago, the Supreme Court backed that approach. It stood all this time, but there's now good reason to think the conservative majority on the court is likely to throw out that precedent and make clear the president has the power to fire these kinds of federal officers.
PERALTA: How far does that power extend? Tell us about the other case.
JOHNSON: Well (ph), President Trump, of course, also tried to fire Lisa Cook, a governor on the Federal Reserve Board. The president cited some vague allegations related to mortgage loans before she got a job at the Fed. And during oral argument in the Lisa Cook case, several of the conservative justices seemed uneasy about whether Cook had a chance to contest those allegations, whether she had due process and whether allowing Trump to fire her could really pierce the Fed's historic independence.
PERALTA: We did see one big ruling this week on some of the voting districts that are changing all over the country. Tell us what happened.
JOHNSON: This week, the conservative majority sided with Republicans in Alabama to allow the state to use a map a lower court had found to discriminate on the basis of race against Black voters in that state. The decision came after voting had already begun in that midterm election, and it drew fierce criticism from civil rights groups and many election lawyers. They say the Supreme Court is putting a hand on the scale to favor the GOP and ignore damage to minority voters. Howard University Law Professor Sherlyn Eiffel wrote - the high court is marching this country's civil rights laws off a cliff.
PERALTA: That's NPR's Carrie Johnson. Carrie, thanks for the update.
JOHNSON: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
