An Unusually Important SCOTUS Term

The Supreme Court's OT 2013 is shaping up to be easily the most historic term we've seen in a long time. Here's a reminder of the Term's major cases:

Already decided:

• Town of Greece v. Galloway (Establishment Clause) (upholding town council prayers)

• McCutcheon v. F.E.C. (Free Speech) (striking down aggregate limits on campaign contributions)

• Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (Affirmative Action) (upholding Michigan constitutional amendment forbidding use of affirmative action in state universities)

Pending decision:

• Bond v. United States (Treaty power) (whether implementing treaty legislation violates structural constitutional guarantees; or whether the legislation can be narrowly read)

• NLRB v. Noel Canning (Recess Appointments Clause) (first ever examination of the scope of the President's recess appointments power)

• McCullen v. Coakley (Free Speech) (whether Massachusetts law impedes free speech rights of abortion protesters outside of abortion clinics)

• Haliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc. (Securities class actions) (whether the Court should overrule the Basic presumption)

• Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) (whether private corporation's religious objections exempt it from the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate)

• ABC, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (Copyright Act) (whether Aereo is a "public performer" and therefore must pay royalties for its retransmission of television programming)

• Riley v. California and United States v. Wurie (Fourth Amendment) (whether and to what extent police can search through a cellphone incident to a lawful arrest)

That is 10 sets of significant cases. Half that number would be a fairly major term. Granted, a couple of them might be duds: Bond might get decided on the statutory question and Haliburton probably won't overturn the Basic presumption. Still, the Term offers a number of novel constitutional questions and other cases of national importance. 

Compare this term with some other recent ones. Take 2012, where the major cases included: United States v. Windsor; Hollingsworth v. Perry; Shelby County v. Holder; Florida v. Jardines; and Maryland v. King. Or in 2011, where the Court decided Arizona v. United States; NFIB v. Sebelius; HHS v. Florida; Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC; United States v. Jones; FCC v. Fox, Inc.; United States v. Alvarez.