BACKGROUND An Oklahoma law curtails the use of drugs to induce abortions. But that law’s breadth is disputed, and the United States Supreme Court has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to clarify. ISSUE Does the Oklahoma law impose an undue burden on women’s access to abortion? PRECEDENT The Supreme Court established the “undue burden” standard in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice, No. 12-1094

BACKGROUND In 2006, Michigan’s voters approved a ballot initiative amending the State Constitution to ban the use of race in admissions decisions at the state’s public universities. ISSUE Did the amendment violate federal equal protection principles by unfairly restructuring the political process? PRECEDENT In decisions in 1969 and 1982, the Supreme Court struck down measures that it found had deprived minority groups of political power.

Abortion

Affirmative action

Federal treaties

First Amendment

Political contributions

Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, No. 12-682

BACKGROUND Carol A. Bond of Pennsylvania was prosecuted under a federal law implementing a chemical weapons treaty. Ms. Bond, after learning that her husband was the father of her best friend’s child, had tried to poison the woman. ISSUE Did Congress have the constitutional authority to enact a law making a federal crime of conduct in a local domestic dispute? PRECEDENT The Supreme Court recognized broad Congressional power to implement treaties in 1920 in Missouri v. Holland.

Bond v. United States, No. 12-158

BACKGROUND Officials in Greece, a town in upstate New York, open town board sessions with a prayer from a “chaplain of the month” who is usually Christian. ISSUE Do such prayers violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion? PRECEDENT The Supreme Court upheld the Nebraska Legislature’s practice of opening its sessions with a prayer by a Presbyterian minister employed by the state in 1983 in Marsh v. Chambers.

Town of Greece v. Galloway, No. 12-696

BACKGROUND A Massachusetts law established buffer zones limiting protests around clinics that perform abortions. ISSUE Does restricting speech from opponents of abortion violate the First Amendment? PRECEDENT The Supreme Court upheld a similar Colorado law in 2000 in Hill v. Colorado.

McCullen v. Coakley, No. 12-1168

BACKGROUND Shaun McCutcheon, an Alabama business owner, seeks to make contributions beyond the aggregate limits set out in a federal law, currently $48,600 to candidates and $74,600 to parties. The case concerns regulations the court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United left untouched. ISSUE Are overall limits on contributions from individuals to candidates and political parties constitutional? PRECEDENT The Supreme Court upheld aggregate contribution limits in 1976 in Buckley v. Valeo.