The Supreme Court just issued its biggest rulings of the year. Here's what you need to know.
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The Supreme Court just finished issuing its biggest decisions of the term, killing President Joe Biden's $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts, ending affirmative action in higher education and issuing a major decision that impacts gay rights. The decisions over the past week cap off a term that began in October in which the justices also considered big issues involving voting rights and religion. The court has a solid six-justice conservative majority but ultimately issued some decisions in which the most conservative position did not win.
The court will next meet in the fall to resume hearing cases. Here are a number of things to know about the Supreme Court's most recent term:
THERE WERE SURPRISES
The court has a solid six-justice conservative majority but ultimately issued some decisions in which the most conservative position did not win. That surprised some court watchers.
CONSERVATIVES STILL WON, A LOT
While there were surprises among the justices' rulings, conservatives still won big. On affirmative action, they achieved a long-desired victory. While the court had narrowly upheld race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 20 years, including as recently as 2016, a conservative wing of the court strengthened by three appointees of former President Donald Trump struck down the practice 6-3.
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS WAS IN CONTROL
As chief, Roberts gets to decide who writes the majority opinion in cases where he's in agreement. This time, he assigned those major opinions to himself, ensuring that his hand was steering the court.
JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON MADE HER VOICE HEARD
JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH DEFENDED NATIVE RIGHTS, AGAIN
ETHICS ISSUES SWIRLED AROUND THE COURT
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Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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