Reviewing the Supreme Court's October 2020 Term

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION v. ALSTON ET AL.

The Court threw out limits set by the NCAA on education-related benefits schools can give players. A victory to student-athletes fighting for more significant financial compensation from a billion-dollar enterprise.

The ruling could open up other ways for challenges to different NCAA compensation rules. As Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated, Tradition "cannot justify the NCAA's decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student-athletes who are not fairly compensated...under ordinary principles of antitrust law...it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law."

MAHANOY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT v. B. L., A MINOR, BY AND THROUGH HER FATHER, LEVY, ET AL.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a Pennsylvania school district violated a cheerleader’s First Amendment rights when it suspended her from the squad for F-word Snapchat posts.

The cheerleader, identified as “B.L.,” vented her frustrations after failing to make the varsity squad. The post, seen by approximately 250 of her friends for 24 hours via her private Snapchat account, was posted outside school hours and off-campus; however, the school decided to suspend B.L. from the squad because she used profanity in connection with a school extracurricular activity.

Judge Stephen Gerald Breyer stated, “...sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary.”

VAN BUREN v. UNITED STATES

A Georgia police officer ran a license plate check in 2015 for an acquaintance who paid him for the favor, he received a felony conviction.

The Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the federal anti-hacking law, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, ruling that it does not cover those who use their authorized access to obtain information for improper purposes. 

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that the officer's actions did not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which can come with up to a 10-year imprisonment for anyone who "intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access" to obtain computer information.

In the opinion, similar to another well-recognized interpretation of the constitution and grammar, focused on the grammatical significance of the modifier "so."

Justice Barrett stated that ..."the law covers people who, although they are authorized to use a computer system, obtain files that are off-limits to them. But it doesn't reach those who are entitled to access particular information...even if they misuse the data they pull. To read the law more broadly would attach criminal penalties to a breathtaking amount of commonplace computer activity," where "Employers commonly state that computers and electronic devices can be used only for business purposes. So, on the Government's reading of the statute, an employee who sends a personal e-mail or reads the news using her work computer has violated the CFAA."

CALIFORNIA ET AL. v. TEXAS ET AL. 

The court maintained The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as enacted in 2010 for the third time, stating the Republican contesters had no valid basis for bringing the lawsuit and challenging the Act. In 2017, Congress eliminated the financial penalty for not carrying health insurance; thus, the $0 penalty meant the challengers were not harmed and could not sue.

FULTON ET AL. v. CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ET AL.

The Court reversed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit remanding the case for additional proceedings. The City of Philadelphia refused the Catholic Social Services a contract for not certifying same-sex couples as foster parents. The ruling held that the City of Philadelphia violated the Catholic Social Service's right to free exercise under the First Amendment by excluding them from the foster care program because they refused to certify same-sex couples.

JONES v. MISSISSIPPI

A Mississippi jury convicted petitioner Brett Jones of murder for killing his grandfather when he was 15 years old. The Supreme Court held that juvenile offenders need not be found permanently incorrigible (beyond correcting, improving, or changing) before being sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole and only trial judges passing sentence must have the option to impose lesser punishment on juveniles.

AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATION v. BONTA, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CALIFORNIA

The Supreme Court ruled that California went too far when it required charities to file with state regulators federal forms disclosing major contributors to tax-exempt charities, finding that the policy infringed on a donors’ First Amendment rights.