Donald Trump’s unprecedented expansion of the powers of the US presidency will be put to the test when the Supreme Court returns for its fall term on Monday.

“The crucial question will be whether it serves as a check on President Trump or just a rubber stamp approving his actions,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Berkeley Law School.

If past is prologue, the Republican leader is in line to notch up more legal victories from a conservative-dominated bench that includes three of his own appointees.

On the docket are voting rights, state bans on the participation of transgender athletes in girls’ sports and a religious freedom case involving a Rastafarian who had his knee-length dreadlocks forcibly shorn while in prison.

But the blockbuster case this term concerns Trump’s levying of hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on imports and whether he had the statutory authority to do so.

Lower courts have ruled he did not.

But the Supreme Court has overwhelmingly sided with Trump since he returned to office, allowing, for example, mass firing of federal workers, the dismissal of members of independent agencies, the withholding of funds appropriated by Congress and racial profiling in his sweeping immigration crackdown.

“You’ve seen the court go out of its way, really bend over backwards, in order to green-light Trump administration positions,” said Cecillia Wang, national legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

‘Legal equivalent of fast food’

Many of those decisions have come on the controversial emergency or “shadow” docket, where the court hands down orders after little briefing, without oral arguments and with paltry explanation.

Samuel Bray, a University of Chicago law professor, described it as the “legal equivalent of fast food”, and the court’s three liberal justices have condemned the increasing use of the emergency docket.

Chemerinsky noted in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times that using the shadow docket, the six conservative justices have “repeatedly and without exception… voted to reverse lower court decisions that had initially found Trump’s actions to be unconstitutional.”

The high-stakes tariffs case, on the other hand, will involve full briefing and oral arguments and will be heard on November 5.

Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to unilaterally impose his extensive tariffs, bypassing Congress by claiming the country was facing an emergency due to the trade deficit.

“At least hundreds of billions of dollars or more are at stake and they may need to refund those billions of dollars if they lose in the Supreme Court,” said Curtis Bradley, a University of Chicago law professor.

Other high-profile cases involving the power of the president are to be heard in December and January when the court weighs in on Trump’s bid to fire members of the independent Federal Trade Commission and Lisa Cook, a governor of the interest-rate setting Federal Reserve Board.

Voting rights

On October 15, the Supreme Court will hear a voting rights case in which “non-African American” voters are contesting the creation of a second Black majority congressional district in Louisiana, claiming it is the result of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.

A victory for the plaintiffs in the case would deal a severe blow to a section of the Voting Rights Act that allows for creation of majority-minority districts to make up for racial discrimination.

“The stakes are incredibly high,” said the ACLU’s Sophia Lin Lakin. “The outcome will not only determine the next steps for Louisiana’s congressional map, but may also shape the future of redistricting cases nationwide.”

Another notable case on the docket concerns challenges to state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban transgender girls from taking part in girls’ sports.

A religious freedom case to be heard on November 10 has unusually brought together legal advocates on both the left and the right.

Damon Landor is a devout Rastafarian whose hair was forcibly cut while he was in prison in Louisiana.

He is seeking permission to sue individual officials of the Louisiana Department of Corrections for monetary damages for violating his religious rights.

The Supreme Court is generally hostile to approving damages actions against individual government officials, Bray said.

At the same time, he noted, the right-leaning court has tended to side with the plaintiffs in religious liberty cases.

• Measures taken under Saudi Vision 2030: Ministry of Hajj, Umrah
• Adds initiative reflects Kingdom’s vision to facilitate Muslims.
• Nusuk Umrah platform launched for aspirants of direct Umrah.
  

Saudi Arabia’s authorities permitted holders of various types of visas to perform Umrah during their stay in the kingdom under the Saudi Vision 2030.

“All holders of visas of various types can perform Umrah during their stay in the kingdom,” the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has confirmed in a statement.

The Ministry stated that the visas cover multiple categories, including personal and family visit visas, electronic tourist visas, transit or stopover visas, work permits, and other types can visit Makkah to perfrom Umrah.

The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah added that the initiative reflects the Kingdom’s ongoing commitment to facilitating the arrival of Muslims from across the globe, enabling them to perform their religious duties with comfort and peace of mind.

“This comes as part of the Ministry’s efforts to facilitate procedures for the guests of Allah and to expand the number of beneficiaries of the services provided within the Hajj and Umrah system, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030,” it said in the statement.

The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah added that it has recently launched the “Nusuk Umrah” platform for those wishing to perform Umrah directly. Through the platform, users can select a suitable package and issue an Umrah permit electronically with ease, in an integrated digital experience that allows booking services and selecting preferred times with great flexibility.

“These facilitative measures reflect the keenness of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince — may Allah protect them — to enable Muslims to visit the Two Holy Mosques and perform their rituals in a spiritual and safe environment, while providing the finest services that enrich the experience of the guests of Allah and make their faith journey easier.”

• Lescure’s nomination is a nod to the left.
• Far right, hard left threaten to bring down govt.
• France unbowed MPs renew call for election.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Sunday named Roland Lescure, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, as finance minister in a new government that political rivals threatened to topple quickly if it failed to break with past Macron policies.

Lescure, who was swift to rally behind Macron when he first ran for the presidency in 2017, briefly spent time in the Socialist Party early in his career. While his nomination was widely seen as a nod to the left ahead of further delicate cross-party budget negotiations, left-wing lawmakers were unimpressed.

Budget talks have grown increasingly fraught, requiring delicate trade-offs between three ideologically opposed blocs — Macron’s ruling centrist minority, the far right and the left — which can bring down the minority government if they unite against it.

Lawmakers from the hard-left France Unbowed party said a no-confidence motion would be filed immediately. The first big test for Lecornu, 39, Macron’s fifth prime minister in two years, will be a speech on Tuesday outlining his policy programme.

Budget crisis

Lecornu’s two predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were brought down by parliament over efforts to rein in France’s public spending at a time when ratings agencies and investors are closely watching the country’s fiscal deficit, the largest in the euro zone.

Lecornu has said he appreciates the calls for a break from the past eight years under Macron’s leadership. His political opponents said Macron’s latest cabinet represented continuity.

“We made it clear to the Prime Minister: It’s either a break with the past or a vote of no confidence. The government announced this evening … is all about continuity and absolutely nothing about the break with the past that the French people demand,” Jordan Bardella, president of the nationalist National Rally party, wrote on X.

Hard-left lawmaker Eric Coquerel wrote on X: “For the third time since the July 2024 elections, Emmanuel Macron is once again imposing on us a government of losers and policies that have been rejected at the ballot box.”

Le Marine Returns to Government

Former finance minister Bruno Le Maire, who oversaw France’s “whatever it costs” response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was appointed defence minister. He will now shape French thinking on how Europe should bolster European security as US President Donald Trump demands the European Union do more to support Ukraine.

Several key ministers remained in their posts, including Jean-Noel Barrot at the foreign ministry, Bruno Retailleau at the interior and Gerald Darmanin at justice.

Underlining the government’s fragility, Retailleau, a conservative, expressed discontent at the distribution of portfolios among ruling alliance partners and called an emergency party meeting on Monday.

France Unbowed lawmakers reiterated their call for a presidential election — something Macron has ruled out.

Courting The Socialists 

Lescure, 58, will face a tough balancing act: securing either support or abstention from the Socialists, while preserving Macron’s pro-business legacy and keeping conservatives and liberals on board.

The Franco-Canadian and former senior executive at Natixis Asset Management will also need to be mindful of the far right’s budget sensitivities, given their readiness to try toppling the government once more.

To win over the Socialists, Lecornu has proposed a wealth tax long demanded by the left, and ruled out using special powers to push the budget through parliament without a vote. They have so far called his overtures insufficient.

“Without a change in policy, the Socialists will vote against the government,” Socialist Party Secretary General Pierre Jouvet told BFM TV.