The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear five cases so far this term, less than the court agreed to at this point over the past three years.
The Supreme Court's 2024 term started on October 7. The Court has granted certiorari to five cases this term, according to court orders. Certiorari is the process of seeking judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency.
At this point in the 2023 term, the Court had granted certiorari to eight cases. That number is still lower than the 14 granted in 2022 and 13 granted in 2021.
Two of the cases the Court has agreed to hear in the 2024 term list the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a defendant.
In Oklahoma v. EPA, the Court will consider whether to pause the EPA's "Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review" rule, aimed at cutting methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
The plaintiff in the other case against the EPA is PacifiCorp, a west coast electric power company.
The EPA is also the plaintiff in a case that has been granted certiorari.
The defendant in this case is Calumet, a company specializing in oil and solvents. The case centers around the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, which requires refineries to blend increasing amounts of renewable fuels into their products each year. The EPA denied over 100 exemption petitions in 2022 from refineries that claimed economic hardship.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the EPA's decision.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is named as a defendant in another case the Supreme Court has agreed to hear.
Pierre Yassue Nashun Riley, a Jamaica native, is seeking a review of an order from the Board of Immigration Appeals that vacated a decision made by an immigration judge and ordered Riley to be taken back to Jamaica.
Riley had been on compassionate release on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 1000 kilograms or more of marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. He was taken back into custody shortly after his release and the Department of Homeland Security ordered he be removed from the country.
An immigration judge ruled that Riley could defer his removal under the Convention Against Torture, a global treaty that prohibits torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment. The Department of Homeland Security appealed the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, who reversed the decision.
The fifth case the Court granted certiorari to is Esteras v. United States.
Edgardo Esteras began serving six years of supervised release in 2020 after he completed time in prison for drug trafficking offenses. Three years later, his probation officer reported him for several violations, including domestic violence and possession of a firearm. The charges were later dismissed at the victim's request.
At a violation hearing, the judge determined that Esteras possessed a firearm while on supervised release and imposed a sentence of 24 months in prison plus three years of supervised release with special conditions, including anger management and location monitoring. The sentence was above the legal sentencing guidelines for the offense.
Esteras appealed the case, arguing that the district court relied on prohibited factors in sentencing him, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision.