American Policing Goes to the Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court is back in more ways than one. Monday marks the first time in two years that nine justices have started a new term, and the Court has a full slate of high-profile cases to resolve. In addition to hearing arguments on LGBT rights and organized labor, the Court will weigh in on several major criminal-justice issues, from digital privacy and vehicle searches to qualified immunity and plea bargains. And like a fresh instrument joining a familiar orchestra, the newest justice could change the tune of those around him on these subjects.
“I’ve been kind of bored the last couple terms because there really hasn’t been that much unpredictably new and exciting,” Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor who studies criminal sentencing, told me. “The patterns were fairly well-established; we know where people are voting.”
This term will be different. It’s the first full one to include Justice Neil Gorsuch, who took his seat in April, midway through the 2016-2017 term and far too late to have any significant sway in its direction. The justices saw fewer marquee cases than in years past, largely because the eight-member Court had avoided major legal issues where it might reach a 4-4 deadlock.
On most issues, Gorsuch is expected to be a reliable conservative vote like the man he replaced, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. But Scalia brought a sometimes unpredictable approach to criminal-justice cases, making it hard to forecast how Gorsuch could Scalia sided with the Court’s liberal wing in favor of stronger restrictions on searches and seizures. It’s unclear whether his successor will follow suit.
