This year’s decisions were delivered against the backdrop of controversy over Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s undisclosed luxury vacation with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer in 2008 and Justice Clarence Thomas’ failure to disclose accepting gifts and vacations from developer Harlan Crow.
The court’s ethical concerns and enactment of conservative priorities — some opposed by large majorities of Americans — have been blamed for plummeting public approval of the Supreme Court. Views of the court have soured in both parties, especially among Democrats upset over last year’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended the nationwide guarantee of abortion rights. There has been increased attention from constitutional scholars to adopt term limits for justices appointed to the nation’s highest court.
The term ended with the conservative majority delivering high-profile rulings that blocked President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and banned the use of race as a factor in college admissions.
Here are the cases.