Supreme Court's June Sprint: 20 Rulings Loom on Birthright Citizenship and Trump's Power

The blockbusters land in the final days

The Supreme Court has 20 cases left to decide before it breaks for summer recess, and the justices are expected to clear the docket by early July, with opinion days stacking up through late June.scotusblog +1 The court doesn't say in advance which rulings are coming, and it routinely saves the most consequential ones for the very end.usatoday At stake in this stretch are the contours of presidential power, immigration, election law and gun rights — several of them direct tests of President Donald Trump's second-term agenda before a 6-3 conservative majority.nbcnews

Birthright citizenship tops the list

The term's marquee case, Trump v. Barbara, asks whether the president can rewrite who qualifies for automatic citizenship. Trump's first-day executive order directs agencies to deny citizenship to babies born in the U.S. when neither parent is a citizen or lawful permanent resident — a change that could affect more than 250,000 births a year.bostonglobe At April arguments, which Trump attended in person as the first sitting president to do so, both conservative and liberal justices cast doubt on the order's legality.nbcnews +1 The justices could strike it on 14th Amendment grounds or rule more narrowly under a 1952 immigration law.usatoday Immigrant families have spent months bracing for the outcome, with some expectant mothers fearing their newborns could be left stateless.chicago

Presidential firing power cuts both ways

Two cases test how far Trump can reach into independent agencies. In Trump v. Cook, the justices sounded skeptical of his attempt to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook over disputed mortgage-fraud allegations; Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned that allowing it could "shatter the independence of the Federal Reserve."bostonglobe But in Trump v. Slaughter, involving fired FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a majority appeared ready to expand presidential removal power in a decision that could reshape more than a dozen agencies.nbcnews +1

Elections, immigration and guns round out the docket

Also pending: a Mississippi case over whether mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but received later can be counted, which Trump's administration wants struck down.bostonglobe The court is weighing Idaho and West Virginia bans on transgender athletes, where conservatives seemed inclined to uphold the laws.nbcnews And the justices are expected to rule on a Hawaii firearm-carry restriction and a federal ban on gun possession by drug users.usatoday Veteran court-watchers note the current pace is unremarkable by recent standards — five of the past five terms ran a similar June sprint.scotusblog