By Deborah E. Moore
On October 23, 2025, the District Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of New York held a virtual CLE in which Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, discussed some of the significant cases that the United States Supreme Court decided during its October 2024 Term and briefly described several cases that were on the docket for the Supreme Court’s October 2025 Term.
Dean Chemerinsky began his presentation by providing some general statistics about the Court’s October 2024 Term. During this Term, the Court issued assigned opinions in 56 cases compared to the 160 assigned opinions issued per year in the 1980s. The October 2024 Term also saw a significant increase in the number of cases being decided on the Court’s emergency docket. Dean Chemerinsky noted that, during the October 2023 Term, the Court decided 40 cases on its emergency docket compared to the 144 cases that the Court decided on its emergency docket during its October 2024 Term.
Finally, Dean Chemerinsky stated that, during the Court’s October 2024 Term, Chief Justice Roberts was in the majority 90% of the time and only in the dissent 2% of the time. Justices Thomas and Alito voted together 97% of the time; and Justices Jackson and Sotomayor voted together 94% of the time.
Dean Chemerinsky divided the remainder of his presentation into three sections: (1) a brief discussion of significant cases that the Supreme Court decided in its October 2024 Term, (2) the Court’s emergency docket, and (3) a brief discussion of significant cases on the Court’s docket for its October 2025 Term.
The following is a list of the significant cases that Dean Chemerinsky discussed:
Fed. Commc’ns Comm’n v. Consumers’ Rsch, 145 S. Ct. 2482 (2025) (administrative law; non-delegation clause)
Lackey v. Stinnie, 145 S. Ct. 2219 (2025) (civil rights – prevailing party under 42 U.S.C. § 1988)
Medina v. Planned Parenthood S. Atl., 145 S. Ct. 2219 (2025) (civil rights; Medicaid Act’s any-qualified provider provision does not clearly and unambiguously confer an individually enforceable right under 42 U.S.C. § 1983)
Andrew v. White, 145 S. Ct. 75 (2025) (criminal law; habeas corpus; introduction of prejudicial evidence violates due process)
United States v. Skrmetti, 145 S. Ct. 1816 (2025) (equal protection; Tennessee’s law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors satisfies rational-basis review)
Trump v. CASA, Inc., 145 S. Ct. 2540 (2025) (federal judicial power; universal injunctions; birthright citizenship)
Cath. Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Indus. Review Comm’n, 145 S. Ct. 1583 (2025) (First Amendment religion)
Mahmoud v. Taylor, 145 S. Ct. 2332 (2025) (First Amendment religion) (school curriculum; parental opt-outs)
Free Speech Coal., Inc. v. Paxton, 145 S. Ct. 2291 (2025) (First Amendment speech; Texas law requiring certain commercial websites publishing sexually explicit content that is obscene to minors to verify that visitors are 18 or older survives intermediate scrutiny under the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause)
Dean Chemerinsky also highlighted the following cases from the Court’s emergency docket:
Trump v. Wilcox, 24A966 (May 22, 2025) (firings – National Labor Relations Board and Merit Selection Board)
Trump v. Boyle, 25A11 (July 23, 2025) (firings – Consumer Products Safey Commission)
Trump v. Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Emps., 24A1174 (July 8, 2025) (firing of employees at federal agencies as part of a reduction in force)
McMahon v. New York, 24A1203 (July 14, 2025) (firings – reversing district court’s preliminary injunction preventing mass layoffs at Department of Education)
Dep’t of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advoc. Coal., 24A831 (March 5, 2025) (cutoff of funds)
Dep’t of Educ. v. California, 24A910 (April 4, 2025) (cutoff of funds)
Nat’l Insts. of Health v. Am. Pub. Health Ass’n, 25A103 (August 21, 2025) (cutoff of funds)
Dep’t of Homeland Sec. v. D.V.D., 24A1153 (June 23, 2024) (reversing lower court’s preliminary injunction against sending individuals to South Sudan)
Noem v. Perdomo, 25A169 (staying district court’s preliminary injunction against ICE agents stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion)
Finally, Dean Chemerinsky discussed a few cases of interest that, as of the date of his presentation, were on the docket for the Supreme Court’s October 2025 Term.
Louisiana v. Callais, No. 24-109 (argued October 15, 2025) (Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act)
Chiles v. Salazar, No. 24-539 (argued October 7, 2025) (whether a law that censors certain conversations between counselors and their clients based on viewpoints expressed regulates conduct or violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment)
Little v. Hecox, No. 24-38 (scheduled for oral argument on January 13, 2026) (whether laws that seek to protect women’s and girls’ sports by limiting participation to women and girls based on sex violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment)
West Virginia v. B.P.J., No. 24-43 (scheduled for oral argument on January 13, 2026) (whether Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prevents a state from consistently designating girls’ and boys’ sports teams based on biological sex determined at birth; whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents a state from offering separate boys’ and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex determined at birth)
Case v. Montana, No. 64-624 (argued October 15, 2025) (whether law enforcement may enter a home without a search warrant based on less than probable cause that an emergency is occurring or whether the emergency-aid exception requires probable cause)
Trump v. Slaughter, 25-332 (argued December 8,2025) (whether the statutory removal protection for members of the Federal Trade Commission violates the separation of powers and, if so, whether Humphrey’s Executor v. United States should be overruled and whether a federal court may prevent a person’s removal from public office either through relief at equity or at law)
Trump v. Cook, No. 25-A312 (to be argued in January 2026) (whether the Supreme Court should stay a district court ruling preventing the President from firing a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors)
Learning Resources v. Trump; Trump v. VOS Selections, No. 24-1287 (argued November 5, 2025) (whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorizes the President to impose tariffs)
In conclusion, Dean Chemerinsky stated that he believed that the Supreme Court’s October 2025 Term would be the most important term for the future of democracy.