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The Supreme Court's 2026 term is now underway — and the docket is loaded with cases that will shape American life for years to come. After a term that left conservatives with more questions than answers about the Court's direction, this new term deserves your attention.
The first major case to watch is Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. Oral arguments were held on October 5th. Boulder County sued Suncor and ExxonMobil claiming their fossil fuel activities caused climate change and damaged local property. The Court will decide whether federal law blocks states from using local nuisance lawsuits to target companies for the global effects of greenhouse gas emissions. If the Court sides with Boulder, it opens the door for liberal jurisdictions across the country to wage financial warfare against energy companies through state courts — a backdoor climate agenda that Congress never approved.
Next up is Viramontes v. Cook County, challenging Illinois' ban on AR-15s and similar semiautomatic firearms. After the Bruen decision in 2022, lower courts have been all over the map on what the Second Amendment actually protects. This case gives the Court a chance to clarify once and for all that the right to keep and bear arms means something concrete — not whatever a given circuit decides it means on a given day.
On religious liberty, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy arrives for oral argument November 3rd — the Colorado case we have reported on before, where the state's Universal Preschool Program excludes Catholic schools that will not abandon their beliefs about marriage and gender. The Court will also weigh whether to revisit its deeply flawed 1990 Employment Division v. Smith decision, which has been used for decades to justify burdening religious exercise.
There is also a big parental rights case out of Washington State involving a school district's gender transition policies. This is exactly the kind of case the Court has been ducking for two years while five federal circuits have sided with schools over parents.
As we have discussed, Justice Barrett's recent return to the conservative side in the Ballroom case was encouraging, but one vote does not make a pattern. With this term's lineup, we will learn very quickly whether we have a conservative Court or merely a Court with conservative credentials.
We will keep watching. You stay engaged with us! Sign up for emails and alerts at PhyllisSchlafly.com, and join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
