The Supreme Court closed its term with several decisions that may shape the broader operating environment for highly regulated sectors.In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court held that the Federal Trade Commission’s for-cause removal protections violate the separation of powers, reinforcing presidential control over most independent agencies while leaving the Federal Reserve’s distinct status largely intact in Trump v. Cook. The Court also issued a notable preemption ruling in Monsanto v. Durnell, saying that federal pesticide labeling determinations preempted a state-law failure-to-warn claim seeking a cancer warning not required by EPA. In Chatrie v. United States, the Court held that law enforcement access to Google Location History through a geofence warrant was a Fourth Amendment search, adding another significant data-privacy decision as courts continue to adapt constitutional doctrine to large-scale digital information.The Court also issued major rulings on citizenship, immigration, civil rights, election law, and campaign finance. In Trump v. Barbara, the Court held that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment, rejecting the Administration’s birthright-citizenship Executive Order. In Mullin v. Doe, the Court narrowed judicial review of Temporary Protected Status termination decisions, a ruling with potential downstream effects for communities and employers. The Court also held in West Virginia v. B.P.J. that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause allow schools to maintain women’s and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex, allowed Mississippi’s postmarked-by-Election-Day absentee ballot rule to stand in Watson v. RNC, and struck down federal limits on political-party coordinated expenditures in NRSC v. FEC. Taken together, the late-term decisions reflect a Court willing to reshape administrative authority and political rules while also drawing firm constitutional lines in areas such as citizenship and digital privacy.
