Supreme Court 2019–2020: Insanity, Discrimination, and DACA—And a Pandemic

Abstract

The 2019–2020 Supreme Court session was an extraordinary session. One major ruling involved insanity defense and whether the two prongs of cognitive capacity and moral capacity were required. Sexual identity was ruled to be covered by the Civil Rights Act in relation to employment. Unanimous criminal jury decisions were ruled a required condition for conviction. The rescindment of DACA was overturned on procedural grounds. Other decisions related to conditions of abortion, habitual residence in international custody cases, police immunity from civil liability, guns, HIV, and capital punishment. Thirty-five percent of cases were unanimous (down from the recent average), and 22% were decided by a 5–4 vote (slightly above the recent average).