The US Supreme Court opened what promises to be an eventful new term on Monday, welcoming a history-making justice to the bench as well as hearing arguments in an environmental dispute and taking up other notable cases that will be decided in the next nine months.
President Joe Biden's appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman justice, took part in oral arguments for the first time since being confirmed by the Senate in April to replace now-retired justice Stephen Breyer.
Ms Jackson Brown was not shy, posing questions to lawyers appearing in the first of two cases argued on Monday — a closely watched fight from Idaho over environmental regulation.
Members of the public were allowed into the ornate courtroom to watch the arguments for the first time since early in the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The court's 6-3 conservative majority has become increasingly assertive, as evidenced by its rulings last term overturning the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that had legalised abortion nationwide and expanding gun rights.
A member of the court's liberal bloc, Ms Jackson Brown is the sixth woman to serve on the court. And for the first time, four women are serving at the same time — Ms Jackson Brown, Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
It is on the first Monday in October annually that the court gets back to work hearing cases. Before hearing its first arguments, it announced a series of new cases to be heard during the term and turned away other appeals.
The court heard arguments in a case that could limit the scope of a major federal environmental law — the Clean Water Act of 1972 — as they consider for a second time a married Idaho couple's bid to build on property that the US government has deemed a protected wetland.
The court agreed to hear a challenge to federal protections for internet and social media companies freeing them of responsibility for content posted by users in a case involving an American student fatally shot in a 2015 terrorist rampage in Paris.
The complaint alleges that Google violated the US Anti-Terrorism Act by recommending ISIS videos that incited violence on Google-owned YouTube.
“Google's services have played a uniquely essential role in the development of [ISIS's] image, its success in recruiting members from around the world and its ability to carry out attacks,” the complaint said.
It also agreed to hear Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank's bid to avoid criminal charges of money laundering, bank fraud and conspiracy for allegedly helping Iran evade economic sanctions in a case that has strained Washington's relations with Ankara.
The justices on Monday turned away a number of appeals, declining to hear a challenge to a federal ban on devices called “bump stocks” that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire like a machinegun.
They also turned away a Ukrainian government bid to avoid paying a $173 million judgment to Russian oil and gas company Tatneft as ordered by a Paris-based arbitration panel.
News agencies contributed to this report
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
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MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
What should do investors do now?
What does the S&P 500's new all-time high mean for the average investor?
Should I be euphoric?
No. It's fine to be pleased about hearty returns on your investments. But it's not a good idea to tie your emotions closely to the ups and downs of the stock market. You'll get tired fast. This market moment comes on the heels of last year's nosedive. And it's not the first or last time the stock market will make a dramatic move.
So what happened?
It's more about what happened last year. Many of the concerns that triggered that plunge towards the end of last have largely been quelled. The US and China are slowly moving toward a trade agreement. The Federal Reserve has indicated it likely will not raise rates at all in 2019 after seven recent increases. And those changes, along with some strong earnings reports and broader healthy economic indicators, have fueled some optimism in stock markets.
"The panic in the fourth quarter was based mostly on fears," says Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. "The fundamentals have mostly held up, while the fears have gone away and the fears were based mostly on emotion."
Should I buy? Should I sell?
Maybe. It depends on what your long-term investment plan is. The best advice is usually the same no matter the day — determine your financial goals, make a plan to reach them and stick to it.
"I would encourage (investors) not to overreact to highs, just as I would encourage them not to overreact to the lows of December," Mr Schutte says.
All the same, there are some situations in which you should consider taking action. If you think you can't live through another low like last year, the time to get out is now. If the balance of assets in your portfolio is out of whack thanks to the rise of the stock market, make adjustments. And if you need your money in the next five to 10 years, it shouldn't be in stocks anyhow. But for most people, it's also a good time to just leave things be.
Resist the urge to abandon the diversification of your portfolio, Mr Schutte cautions. It may be tempting to shed other investments that aren't performing as well, such as some international stocks, but diversification is designed to help steady your performance over time.
Will the rally last?
No one knows for sure. But David Bailin, chief investment officer at Citi Private Bank, expects the US market could move up 5 per cent to 7 per cent more over the next nine to 12 months, provided the Fed doesn't raise rates and earnings growth exceeds current expectations. We are in a late cycle market, a period when US equities have historically done very well, but volatility also rises, he says.
"This phase can last six months to several years, but it's important clients remain invested and not try to prematurely position for a contraction of the market," Mr Bailin says. "Doing so would risk missing out on important portfolio returns."
