SCOTUS drops album of consequential decisions

The Supreme Court dropped four significant rulings today on the opioid epidemic, abortions, pollution, and the power of the executive branch.

The justices outlawed a bankruptcy deal the Sackler family made to shield themselves from further lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis in exchange for giving billions of dollars to victims and their families. The court accused the family of abusing the bankruptcy system, and the decision has implications for similar settlements involving claims of mass injury, including one between the Boy Scouts of America and victims of sexual abuse.

The court blocked an Environmental Protection Agency air-quality initiative, pressing pause on a major effort to reduce smog-forming pollution that blows across state lines.

The justices also ruled against in-house Securities and Exchange Commission tribunals, arguing that they give the executive branch too much power.

Finally, after the decision leaked yesterday, the court ordered that hospitals in Idaho that receive federal funds must allow emergency abortion care even though the state strictly bans the procedure.

But there is more to come. The court — which usually winds up its term in June but will continue into July this year — still needs to rule whether rioters can be prosecuted for obstruction on Jan. 6 and whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for interfering in the 2020 election.