When its next nine-month term begins in October the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the use of race in college admissions and the intersection and the use of free speech and gay rights.

The 2022-2023 court term includes several cases that will test the court’s commitment to precedent.:

GAY RIGHTS- SCOTUS will hear an appeal from Lorie Smith, a Colorado resident, is challenging a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating on a variety of factors, including sexual orientation.  Smith refused to start creating pages for same-sex weddings because doing so would be at odds with her faith.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: SCOTUS will hear an appeal from a special interest group called Students for Fair Admissions accused Harvard of favoring Black and Hispanic applicants over Asian Americans. Lawrence Bacow, Harvard’s president, has said eliminating race as a factor would make it more challenging for the school to create a diverse student body. In the North Carolina case, the Supreme Court took the rare step of intervening before a trial judge’s decision made it to the appellate level.

It looks like it might be a rough Fall.