Federalism
Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (2013)
Whether the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) preempts voter registration requirements set by states.
United States v. Hatch (2013)
Whether the Thirteenth Amendment grants the Federal Government sweeping power to enact laws that are thought to be able to cure social ills who may or may not be able to trace their genesis to slavery in the early United States.
Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs (2009)
Whether a particular symbolic congressional resolution strips Hawaii of its sovereign authority to sell, exchange, or transfer any state-owned land unless and until it reaches a political settlement with native Hawaiians about the status of that land.
Bostic v. Schaefer (2013)
Whether Virginias laws prohibiting same-sex marriage and refusing to recognize out-of-state homosexual marriages violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)
Whether the Commerce Clause or the Taxing and Spending Clause grants the federal government the power to tax or fine individuals who abstain from purchasing health insurance, and whether the federal government violates the Spending Clause or principles of federalism by using leverage against the states to expand state-run Medicaid programs.
Arizona v. United States (2012)
Whether state governments have the authority to enact immigration policies that enforce federal immigration law. Specifically, whether Arizona Law S.B. 1070, which essentially required state and local police to enforce federal immigration laws, usurped the federal governments constitutional authority to regulate and enforce immigration policy in violation of the Supremacy Clause.
Montana Shooting Sports Association v. Holder (2013)
Whether the intrastate manufacture and sale of firearms is beyond the scope of Congresss power to regulate interstate commerce, including federal manufacturing and licensing requirements.
Kobach v. Election Assistance Commission (2014)
Whether the acting executive director of the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has the discretionary authority to deny a states request to include state-approved, proof-of-citizenship language on a federal voter-information form.
Latta v. Otter (2014)
Whether three of Idahos laws that variously recognize only marriages between a man and a woman, a second that provides no mechanism for recognizing the validity of out-of-state, same-sex marriages, and a third law banning the legal recognition of same-sex marriages in general, violate the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
Kitchen v. Herbert (2014)
Whether the three provisions of Utah law prohibiting marriage between members of the same sex and defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman violate individual rights guaranteed under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. Therefore, whether Utah must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize out-of-state marriage licenses of same-sex couples.
Obergefell v. Hodges
Whether homosexuals have a fundamental right to marry under the 14th Amendment, and thus whether the Supreme Court can order states to issue gay marriage licenses and to recognize out-of-state gay marriage licenses, despite state laws or amendments to the contrary.
Bond v. United States (2014)
On the question of justiciability, whether a person indicted for violating a federal statute has standing to challenge the law on grounds that Congress exceeded its powers under the Constitution, intruding upon the sovereignty and authority of the states in violation of the 10th Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled on this issue in the first Bond case in 2011.On the question of the merits of the case, whether a federal statute, enacted by Congress to implement an international treaty, can be used to charge American citizens with what otherwise would be purely local crimes. In other words, whether the president, in exercising his power to make treaties with the consent of the Senate, can increase Congresss enumerated powers to legislate on domestic matters. The Court ruled on this issue in the second Bond case in 2014.
