Having undermined the law and the Constitution with some terrible opinions in deference to President Donald Trump, this week brings the new U.S. Supreme Court term, and with it the risk that our nation’s highest judicial body will continue to make us a less fair, less moral and less safe society.

As with other recent terms, the weightiness of the court and the significance of its decisions belies some of the absurdity of the questions it is considering. Case in point, the justices have decided to take up the question of the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy for many undocumented immigrants, which relies on the reinterpretation of a federal statute that bars “arriving aliens” from requesting bond from immigration judges to include everyone who entered the country unlawfully.

Under this preposterous interpretation, someone who entered who has been in the country for years or even decades is classified as “arriving,” a notion that flies in the face of logic, proportionality and the English language itself. Now, there’s a very real chance the court will sign off on it.

The justices will also consider whether the administration can send deported immigrants to countries they’ve never been and have no ties to, which is illogical and cruel.

Beyond immigration, the court might curtail the ability for state and local governments to hold energy companies accountable for their climate impact; strike down further restrictions on private ownership of firearms; and force localities to fund religious schools even when these are pushing explicit theological agendas that include opposition to the dignity of LGBTQ people, further eroding what remains of the line between church and state.

If trends continue, we can expect the conservative majority to keep at it. One wild card is potential intervention on voting cases, which carry the very real danger of allowing Trump’s constant efforts to subvert our elections to come to some level of fruition. Here, sometimes reason has prevailed, such as refusing to agree to the president’s plan to restrict voting by mail by using the Postal Service.

As we’ve seen during the summer, when the court was on vacation, not all rulings come after full case briefings and oral arguments, as the justices have been busy using the emergency so-called shadow docket. So, while we can preview what it has on the docket, it’s likely that some of its most consequential orders will be in cases not currently before it, or maybe that have not even yet been filed at all. Part of this is the Trump’s administration’s penchant for running to the high court without waiting for the normal appeals process and the court’s willingness to entertain these matters immediately.

While the birthright citizenship and the tariff decisions stopped Trump’s illegal efforts, the court has been too hesitant to curb executive power when the president reaches too far, which he seemingly does every day.

The GOP Congress is very willing to hand over their power, but that’s not their call. The Constitution is clear that responsibilities are to be divided between the two political branches. Even if the legislative branch is willing to bow to the White House, the Supreme Court must say no, regardless of who controls the Hill and who sits in the Oval Office.

The Constitution must endure beyond Trump’s term and the high court must ensure that. The country depends on it.

_____

©2026 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.