The highest court in the United States should play a crucial role in several political cases, less than a year before the American presidential election scheduled for November 2024. First on the very possibility of former Republican President Donald Trump, in the midst of legal setbacks, to represent himself against his Democratic rival, while several states are trying at the federal level to prevent him from being a candidate in his party’s primaries.
But also on the burning theme of the campaign: that of the right to abortion. Two years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, who sanctified throughout the American territory the right of women to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy, the Supreme Court recently announced that it will also rule on the question of recourse to the abortion pill. “In a flash, the Supreme Court placed itself at the heart of two controversies likely to have significant consequences for the 2024 election,” analyzes the economic media Bloomberg.
Called to rule quickly on Trump’s electability
In less than a week, two American states, Colorado and Maine, have taken the decision to ban Donald Trump from being a candidate in the Republican primaries there, due to his role in the assault on the Capitol. on January 6, 2021. Hundreds of supporters attacked the headquarters of the American Congress that day, where elected officials certified the presidential victory of his rival Joe Biden. The two states which wish to prevent Donald Trump from participating in the Republican primaries accuse him of having fomented this “insurrection”, but remain suspended from the opinion of the Supreme Court.
“Other states could soon follow the example of Colorado and Maine, according to several jurists,” indicates the Washington Post. This could lead to “a risk of disparate decisions, and that Trump appears on the ballot in some states, but not in others,” adds the daily.
The Republican Party of Colorado thus asked the Supreme Court to review the decision of this state, while Donald Trump also affirmed that he would challenge that of Maine. In total, around fifteen other American states have launched procedures to prevent the ex-president, targeted by four indictments, from running again in his party’s primaries, according to the American site Lawfarespecializing in national security issues.
In this context, the country’s highest court is called upon to quickly address this explosive issue in order to avoid any disparity. As long as it does not rule on this decision, which will define the contours of the November 2024 election, each state will be free to allow or not the ex-president to run again.
Donald Trump’s team was optimistic about a decision favorable to the Republican candidate, favorite in the primaries. The Supreme Court has in fact largely shifted to the conservative camp in recent years. In the meantime, nothing is stopping the billionaire from continuing his campaign, despite his numerous legal setbacks.
Access to the abortion pill
Another crucial subject of the upcoming campaign: the right to abortion. In the United States, the abortion pill – the method used for half of voluntary terminations of pregnancies – has become the battleground between defenders and opponents of the right to abortion, since the Supreme Court overturned it on June 24, 2022. , Roe v. Wade who constitutionalized this procedure.
The judges announced on Wednesday, December 13, that they would take up the issue of medical abortion at the request of the Biden administration. It will be “the first major decision concerning abortion” since 2022, according to the New York Times.
In detail, the method authorized in the United States, as in many countries, uses two drugs: mifepristone (or RU 486), which stops the development of the pregnancy, the second, misoprostol, taken between one and two days later, which triggers contractions and bleeding. Since 2000, their use has been authorized by the American Medicines Agency (FDA), initially up to seven weeks of pregnancy, then 10 weeks after the last period.
But since the Supreme Court’s decision, in June 2022, to review the constitutional right to abortion, around twenty states have banned or strictly restricted access to abortion. In these states, medical abortions are therefore also prohibited. Anti-abortion groups would like to see access to mifepristone restricted nationwide, including in states where abortion remains legal.
It is a procedure launched in this direction in Texas which has reached the Supreme Court. It must decide on the merits by the end of June 2024, a few months before the elections, and while the question of abortion remains “a strong political and legal subject”, notes the New York daily. Where abortion has been banned or restricted since June 2022, “the repercussions of the verdict have allowed Democrats to mobilize their voters, even in conservative-leaning states”.
The US elections are due to be held in November 2024. In a poll published by the New York Timesin November 2023, potential Republican candidate Donald Trump is favored ahead of outgoing President Joe Biden in five out of six key states.