O n October 2, 2017, the Supreme Court is to begin its new term. While the Court issued a number of notable decisions during its last full term, Court watchers have largely agreed that, at least compared to recent terms, the Court's October 2016 term was diminished both with regard to volume and content. With the Court already accepting over 30 cases, many of which raise difficult questions in various areas of law, the October 2017 has the potential to be one of the most consequential in years. A full discussion of these cases and others that the Supreme Court will hear during its upcoming term is beyond the scope of this report (indeed, the Court has to grant certiorari to the majority of cases that will likely make up its docket for the upcoming year). But Table 1 provides brief summaries of the cases the Court has already agreed to hear during the October 2017 term, and many of the cases on the Court's docket are discussed in existing or forthcoming CRS products. The majority of this report highlights four of the notable cases of the new term that could impact the work of Congress: (1)  Carpenter v. United States , which examines the limits the Fourth Amendment imposes on the warrantless collection of the historical cell phone location records of a criminal suspect; (2)  Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) , a case exploring whether Congress, by prohibiting a state from partially repealing a state law, impermissibly commandeers the powers of the state; (3)  Gill v. Whitford , which considers when a state's redistricting plan amounts to impermissible partisan gerrymandering; and (4) Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission , which asks whether a baker has a First Amendment right to decline to make cakes for same-sex weddings. Each case is addressed in a separate section below that (1) provides background information on the case; (2) summarizes the arguments that were or are likely to be presented to the Court in each case; and (3) examines the implications that the Court's ruling could have for Congress, including broader ramifications for the jurisprudence in a given area of law. The case could decide whether cell phone users have a protected Fourth Amendment privacy interest in the trove of location data held by their wireless carriers. Federalism: Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association

In Christie v. NCAA , the Supreme Court is asked to consider whether a federal statute understood to bar the partial repeal of New Jersey's sports gambling prohibition runs afoul of the Tenth Amendment. Redistricting: Gill v. Whitford

On October 3, 2017, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford , a case that could significantly impact how congressional and state legislative redistricting maps are drawn. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear one of these cases next term in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission .
On October 2, 2017, the Supreme Court is to begin its new term. While the Court issued a number of notable decisions during its last full term, Court watchers have largely agreed that, at least compared to recent terms, the Court's October 2016 term was diminished both with regard to volume and content. With the Court already accepting over 30 cases for its next term, many of which raise deep and difficult questions in various areas of law, the October 2017 Supreme Court term could be considerably different. The next Court term has the potential to be one of the most consequential in years.
A full discussion of every case that the Court will hear during the October 2017 term is beyond the scope of this report (indeed, the Court has to grant certiorari to the majority of cases that will likely make up its docket for the upcoming year). But Table 1 provides brief summaries of the cases the Court has already agreed to hear during the October 2017 term, and many of the cases on the Court's docket are discussed in existing or forthcoming CRS products. The majority of this report highlights four notable cases of the new term that could impact the work of Congress: (1) Carpenter v. United States; (2) Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); (3) Gill v. Whitford; and (4) Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
In a case that could decide whether cell phone users have a protected privacy interest in the trove of location data held by their wireless carriers, the Court in Carpenter v. United States will examine whether the government's warrantless collection of historical cell phone location data is constrained by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. In Christie v. NCAA, the Court will consider whether a federal statute understood to bar the partial repeal of New Jersey's sports gambling prohibition runs afoul of the Tenth Amendment's anti-commandeering principle. In a case that could significantly impact how congressional and state legislative redistricting maps are drawn, Gill v. Whitford will examine whether a state's redistricting map constitutes an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Finally, in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Court will examine a dispute that weighs states' interests in enforcing their civil rights laws against the interests of those who object to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. The discussion that follows of each of these cases (1) provides background information; (2) summarizes the arguments that were or are likely to be presented to the Court; and (3) examines the implications that the Court's ruling could have for Congress, including broader ramifications for the jurisprudence in a given area of law.