Making Sense of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s 2024–2025 term was relatively underwhelming. But according to Ilya Shapiro, who leads the Manhattan Institute’s amicus brief program, the recent slate of cases reveals something notable: the Court is less polarized than popularly portrayed. 

“Of the Court’s 56 signed opinions in argued cases,” Shapiro writes, “half were either unanimous or 8–1.” Shapiro reviews the most recent term and walks through the results of each case in which MI filed an amicus brief.

In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court declared that public schools are constitutionally required to allow parents with religious objections to opt their children out of LGBTQ-themed lessons. Ryan Owens and Zach Goldberg report on a new poll that suggests Americans generally support opt outs and “are broadly sympathetic to parental rights in public education.” 

Racially discriminatory DEI programs and failure to address anti-Semitism on campus have led to the resignation or dismissal of several university presidents in recent years. Yet up to now, Gregory Washington, president of George Mason University, has managed to keep his job despite similar failures, argues Ian Kingsbury. 

Washington has refused to scale back his DEI efforts despite the legal liability these programs impose on the university, he has failed forthrightly to denounce campus anti-Semitism, and he has refused to bring the university’s policies on the use of identity-concealing masks at protests into alignment with state law. 

“Washington’s devotion to DEI and refusal to protect Jews on campus are painfully clear,” writes Kingsbury. “Leaders at other universities have resigned or been removed from office for far less.”

Asian Americans helped Zohran Mamdani secure the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor. As Renu Mukherjee notes, the democratic socialist candidate “managed to win majority-Asian precincts in Gotham by 15 percentage points.”

How did he do it? By recognizing that Asian American voters are not monolithic, she argues. Mamdani consolidated his support base among several of New York’s South Asian communities—Pakistanis, Indian Sikhs, Bangladeshis, and others—while simultaneously expanding his outreach to East Asian voters by securing an endorsement from influential State Senator John Liu. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign, by contrast, “failed to engage with the ethnic and religious nuances within New York City’s ‘Asian’ vote.” 

The lesson for New York politicians? “First, take Asian voters seriously,” writes Mukherjee. “Second, don’t treat Asian Americans as a monolith.” 

Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN / Contributor / AFP via Getty Images