Trump, tariffs and trans rights: The Supreme Court's history-making term

• Here are some of the biggest cases to watch:

SCOTUS to rule on Trump's executive power

Legal challenges over Trump's tariffs, his attempts to fire an FTC commissioner and his firing of a Fed governor are among the most closely watch cases this term.

• The high court last month permitted Trump's removal of Rebecca Slaughter from her role as Federal Trade Commission commissioner as it weighs executive authority over independent agencies.

Yes, but: It allowed Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to stay put — for now.

Catch up quick: Trump has framed challenges to his tariffs as existential, saying a loss would "literally destroy the United States of America."

• A federal appellate court struck down the levies imposed by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as an overreach of power in August. The U.S. Court of International Trade also ruled that Trump overstepped his authority.
• The Supreme Court agreed to fast-track the test of his sweeping tariffs, with arguments scheduled for early November.

Zoom out: More cases involving pillars of Trump's agenda are likely on the way — potentially including his effort to revoke birthright citizenship from the children of undocumented immigrants.

• And new Trump policies will inevitably end up on the court's "shadow docket" as they work their way through the courts.

Elections and campaign finance

In a case brought by Vice President JD Vance when he was still in Congress, the court will consider reversing a precedent that limits coordination between campaigns and political parties.

• The government noted in a May brief that while the Justice Department typically defends federal statutes, the Republican challenge "is the rare case that warrants an exception to that general approach."
• The justices could also deliver another blow to what remains of the Voting Rights Act.

Trans athletes and conversion therapy

The court has agreed to hear two cases about whether states can bar trans athletes from participating in women's sports.

• Transgender people have been a frequent target of the Trump administration.
• One of the cases, involving a West Virginia high school student challenging a state law that banned trans students from participating in middle, high school and collegiate sports, predates Trump 2.0.

It'll also hear a challenge to Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, brought by a therapist who argues that the state is infringing on her right to free speech by dictating what messages she can or cannot discuss with her patients.

• More than two dozen states have some form of ban or restriction on the practice, which major medical organizations and LGBTQ+ advocates have condemned as harmful, ineffective and discriminatory.

What we're watching: The court's conservative majority has recently handed a string of losses to the LGBTQ+ community, including by upholding a state ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

• It also allowed the Trump administration's ban on transgender troops in the military to take effect.

2nd Amendment and death penalty cases

There's a significant Second Amendment case — a challenge to a Hawai'i law that requires permission to bring guns onto private property, as well as public areas like parks, playgrounds and beaches.

Zoom out: The justices also agreed to hear a case that could clarify the rules for sentencing intellectually disabled people to death.

• In 2002, the court decided that sentencing an intellectually disabled person to death was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishments.

Go deeper: Trump pits the Supreme Court against its own precedents