Today’s legal holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day means that the Court’s workweek starts tomorrow. It could get quite exciting, since we may find out tomorrow whether the Supreme Court intends to take the government’s appeal from the Fifth Circuit’s decision in the immigration enforcement case, United States v. Texas. The case was scheduled for consideration at conference last week.
The Court’s oral arguments begin Tuesday with Heffernan v. City of Paterson, an important case about First Amendment rights of association. The question before the Court is whether the First Amendment protects a public employee from demotion based on a supervisor’s (false) perception that the employee supports a particular political candidate. After that, the Court turns to diversity jurisdiction in trust cases.
Wednesday will address more obscure issues of federal law, such as the diminishment of a federal Indian reservation and the National Park Service’s jurisdiction over various parts of Alaska.