The Trump Supreme Court issued a series of far-right rulings in 2022. It’s not done yet

This year has been an extraordinary one for the Supreme Court. It was also the year we realized the most important consequence of Donald Trump’s 2016 election: his selection of three very conservative justices.

In a single week in June 2022, the court moved constitutional law dramatically to the right. This was a harbinger of what is sure to follow for many years to come.

I have been teaching constitutional law for almost 43 years and can’t think of another week that more significantly altered the Constitution than June 23-30, 2022.

On Thursday, June 23, the court decided New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, declaring a 1911 New York firearm restriction unconstitutional. Like California and a number of other states, New York required a permit to carry a gun in public. The Supreme Court’s six conservative justices declared that law unconstitutional, the first time in American history that the court found the Second Amendment guarantees a right to carry guns in public, including concealed weapons.

The court went even further than that, ruling that the only allowable gun regulations are those that were historically permitted in 1791, when the Second Amendment was adopted, and perhaps in 1868, when the 14th Amendment was ratified. This opened the door to challenges to all kinds of gun laws.

The very next day, on Friday, June 24, the court expressly overruled Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Rarely in American history has the Supreme Court taken a constitutional right away, but that’s exactly what the court did in Dobbs, concluding that American women no longer have a constitutional right to an abortion.

The Dobbs decision led to a flurry of state initiatives and legislation, some restricting abortion and some protecting access. The reality is that abortion will be illegal in over half the states, with some prohibiting abortions from the moment of conception. We have returned to the pre-1973 world, where those seeking abortions in states where it is illegal will travel to places where it is allowed if they have the resources to do so. Economically disadvantaged women, including teenagers without resources, will again face the cruel choice between an unwanted child and an unsafe back-alley abortion.

Just a few days later, on Monday, June 27, the court decided Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, finding that the Washington school system had violated a high school football coach’s rights to free speech and free exercise of religion by disciplining him for publicly praying on the field after games.

Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court held that prayer in public schools, even voluntary prayer, violates the Constitution. For six decades, without exception, the court found that prayers in public schools are unconstitutional. Now it has opened the door to public school teachers engaging students in prayer.

Finally, on Thursday, June 30, the court ended its term with West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, holding that the EPA lacks the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. The court ruled that this was a “major question” of economic and political significance, and that Congress had not given sufficiently specific authority for the EPA to address the problem.

At a time when climate change imperils the planet, limiting the federal government’s ability to deal with a significant source of pollution is misguided. The court also thereby invited challenges to myriad actions by federal agencies.

This dramatic week in constitutional law is only the beginning of the major changes we are likely to see from the conservative justices. In the last few months of 2022, the court held oral arguments in cases that could allow them to overrule almost 50 years of decisions allowing colleges to engage in affirmative action, require an exception to anti-discrimination laws when people raise free speech objections and prevent state courts from enforcing state constitutions with respect to federal elections.

Conservatives undoubtedly celebrate all of this, while liberals condemn it. But no one should have the slightest doubt about what is happening.

The conservative justices are not following the text of the Constitution or its original meaning; they’re imposing their own values on the country.

Our country is more politically polarized than at any time since Reconstruction. What will it mean to have a court that has come down so solidly on one side of that divide? That’s the crucial question that emerged in 2022.