Posted June 26, 2026 | by KimS | in DemDaily, Gun Control, Immigration, LGBTQ Rights, State Issues, Supreme Court, Trump Administration

DemDaily: Supreme Court Closes Out Consequential Cases

June 26, 2026

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) passed down major rulings this week, including highly consequential cases involving immigration, gun rights, religious rights, and corporate liability, as the justices prepare to close out their 2025-2026 session.

The Supreme Court's term begins, by statute, on the first Monday in October and officially goes through the full year. The court, however, usually hears cases through April, announces orders in May and June, and typically recesses in late June or early July until the start of the next term.

The Supreme Court's term begins, by statute, on the first Monday in October and officially goes through the full year. The court, however, usually hears cases through April, announces orders in May and June, and typically recesses in late June or early July until the start of the next term.

IMMIGRATION & ASYLUM: SCOTUS' conservative majority issued two seismic immigration law decisions, ruling 6-3 in the Trump administration’s favor in each case.

The president has been targeting immigrants who are in the US under “Temporary Protected Status” – a visa for people who can’t safely return to their home countries due to war, violence, or humanitarian disasters. His most frequent attacks are on Haitians, who are legally living here -- a community he used as a political target in his campaign.

In February, US District Judge Ana Reyes granted a preliminary injunction that halted the administration's plan to end deportation protections, effectively prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from targeting these individuals for removal. This week's rulings nullify those protections.

The first case, Mullin v. Doe, overturns lower court decisions blocking the Trump administration’s move to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 4,000 Syrians.

In the second, Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the Court ruled in favor of a government policy allowing border officials to turn away asylum seekers arriving at ports of entry along the US-Mexico border when border crossings become overburdened.

Among the many points in her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued that the plaintiffs held a likely successful equal protection claim because the decision was tainted by impermissible race-based considerations. She cited Trump's public rhetoric, including his widely publicized debate claim that Haitian immigrants were "eating the dogs... eating the cats," as evidence.

GUN RIGHTS: In a 6-3 decision in Wolford v. Lopez, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court struck down Hawaii's restrictive public-carry gun law. The law, nicknamed the "vampire rule," prohibited concealed-carry permit holders from bringing firearms onto public-facing private property (like restaurants, hotels, and parking lots) without express permission from the owner.

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito found that the state's "no-carry" default violated the Second Amendment. In her dissent, Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, argued that “Hawaii’s law does not implicate the Second Amendment because...there is no constitutional right to enter private property without the owner’s permission, let alone with a firearm.” The laws, she said, correctly applied traditional property law -- specifically the property owner's "right to exclude" -- and did not infringe upon the Second Amendment

RELIGIOUS RIGHTS: In the 6-3 majority decision in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Court ruled against a Rastafarian inmate, Damon Landor, who sought to sue prison officials after they cut his dreadlocks, rejecting his specific religious rights claim under prison policy.

The justices agreed with the prison officials that, under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 -- a federal law intended to protect the religious rights of prisoners -- state employees may not be held liable in their personal capacities unless they voluntarily and knowingly consent to answer such private suits.

In her dissent, Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, argued the decision created a severe "severance of rights and remedies" that directly undercuts the protections Congress explicitly built into RLUIPA to shield incarcerated individuals from egregious religious persecution.

CORPORATE LIABILITY: The Court handed a major victory to pesticide manufacturer Bayer/Monsanto in a dispute over cancer warnings on pesticide labels -- scaling back thousands of state-level lawsuits against the maker of Roundup weedkiller.

In an opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Monsanto Company v. Durnell, the court ruled, by a vote of 7-2, that federal pesticide law preempts state-level failure-to-warn lawsuits regarding cancer risks. The landmark decision shields pesticide manufacturers from liability when their product labels match those approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, contended that the ruling is based on “a labeling requirement that does not exist,” and described the effects of the majority’s interpretation of the law as “both remarkable and regrettable.”

Four years ago this week: In a 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the US Supreme Court struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, holding that there is no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion. DemDaily: Supreme Court Silences Roe 6/24/22

Four years ago this week: In a 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the US Supreme Court struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, holding that there is no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion. DemDaily: Supreme Court Silences Roe 6/24/22

Among the remaining SCOTUS decisions expected this week before the Court's summer recess.

Executive Power & Presidential Appointments
Birthright Citizenship: Challenges the executive branch's authority to alter or limit birthright citizenship as it has been traditionally understood under the 14th Amendment.
Federal Reserve Independence: Whether the president has the authority to fire a Federal Reserve Board Governor.
Independent-Agency Removal: A broader constitutional test regarding the president's unilateral power to fire the heads of independent federal regulatory agencies.

Election Law & Campaign Finance
Mail-In Ballot Deadlines: Rulings that could upend state-level election deadlines and rules just ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Campaign Finance Limits: A major case weighing the limits of coordinated spending between political parties and individual candidates.

Civil Rights & First Amendment
Transgender Athlete Bans: Joint challenges to state laws enacted in West Virginia and Idaho that bar transgender girls from competing on female sports teams.
First Amendment: Whether a state ban on LGBTQ+ "conversion therapy" for minors unconstitutionally restricts protected speech or merely regulates professional medical conduct.

DemList will keep you informed.

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