Georgetown Law - 2026 Supreme Court Term in Review

In 1870, the first law class was held at Georgetown University. From that time onward, Georgetown Law has cultivated urgent conversations and debates central to constitutional law, democracy, and civil society. Important matters of domestic and international concern have been vetted by thought leaders at Georgetown Law and our institutes and centers. We continue this important tradition with the 2026 Supreme Court Term in Review hosted by the law school and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. On the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there could be no better time or place to consider the rule of law, democracy, separation of power, and the Supreme Court, particularly the opinions rendered in its current term.

This Supreme Court Term in Review will be an engaging discussion about the Supreme Court’s 2025-26 docket, which includes cases that that address voting rights, birthright citizenship, tariffs, racial justice, poverty, reproductive health access, freedom of speech and the press, and other matters that relate to social justice and inequality in society. Panelists include journalists and civil society leaders who will provide an overview of the key cases of the term, discuss whether the cases create changes in American jurisprudence, and if so how, and analyze how the Court’s rulings will affect the rule of law, authority of the executive, separation of powers, reproductive health, rights, and justice, voting rights, the administrative state and more.

Panelists will discuss:

Birthright Citizenship
The Voting Rights Act
First Amendment expression
Protection for LGBTQ Rights
Criminal Justice
Access to reproductive healthcare and abortion
The president’s ability to terminate Federal Reserve Board Governors
Where to draw the line between political and racial gerrymandering
Tariffs

In this panel, participants will consider democracy, separation of powers, and the rule of law, during the Trump Administration. The panel will address the executive orders that define the Trump Administration as well as the litigation that has followed. Specifically, given the widespread executive orders and broad changes in policy, more than 750 lawsuits have been filed against the Trump Administration. The challenges--as with the executive orders--are expansive in scope and scale, ranging from sex, gender, and “DEI,” to the Alien Enemies Act, firings of government workers and officials, birthright citizenship, efforts to dismantle agencies, gutting programs, funding cuts, mass deportations, immigration, trans rights, and tariffs, among others. According to the New York Times, in more than 150 cases, federal courts have blocked the administration’s policies through preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders. At least thirty of these cases have reached the Supreme Court. These matters combined with concerns related to the Supreme Court, the show docket, usurpation of congressional authority, and the Department of Justice’s use of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, and prosecutions deemed unlawful, raise serious questions about the rule of law during the Trump era. This panel takes up urgent issues raised in the Trump era.

Panelists will discuss: