Kerby Anderson

During this campaign season, many have been talking about the narrow (5-4) Supreme Court cases to illustrate how important the presidential election will be to the future of America. Let’s first look at some of the key First Amendment cases.

The Hobby Lobby case was decided by the high court in 2014. The Department of
Health and Human Services under the Affordable Care Act required employers to cover certain contraceptives (including abortifacients) for their female employees. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby by a 5-4 vote.

The Little Sisters of the Poor case in 2016 was similar to the Hobby Lobby case but raised the question of whether religious institutions (other than churches that are already exempt) should be exempt from the HHS contraceptive mandate. The 4-4 Supreme Court vote essentially returned them to their respective courts of appeals for reconsideration.

The Citizens United case in 2010 challenged the Campaign Reform Act that prevented electioneering communication within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, and prohibited such expenditures by corporations and unions. A lower court ruled that Citizens United could not advertise a movie critical of Hillary Clinton and could not show it on television within 30 days of the Democratic primaries. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that freedom of speech prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation.

These three cases were all decided by a narrow margin. Tomorrow we will look at a few more 5-4 decisions from the Supreme Court. As you can see from these cases, the next president will be able to shape future court rulings on a variety of issues through the people that he or she put on the Supreme Court. The next justices that the next president puts on the court will have a profound impact on America. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.