I'm Elizabeth Slattery and I'm Tiffany Bates.

And welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court,

what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This week we're talking about recent grants, the fate of the travel ban case,

and we'll interview appellate lawyer and former Thomas Clerk, Will Konsevoy.

The Supreme Court met this week for its long conference, where it considered all of the

petitions that were filed over the summer.

Before we get into the details of what the court added to its docket, I'd like to note that

this week marks the 228th anniversary of the creation of our federal courts.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the federal court system, and the same week, the Senate confirmed our first Chief Justice, John Jay, and five associate

justices. So happy birthday to the U.S. courts.

Following its long conference, the Supreme Court announced it will add 11 cases to its schedule,

including a challenge to public union, public employee union, so-called agency shop arrangements.

The case is Janice against American Federation.

By way of background, the court previously granted a very similar case, Friedrichs v. California

Teachers Association, which asked the justices to overrule a 1970s decision,

Abood versus Detroit Board of Education.

In Abood, the court said public employee unions, such as teachers' unions,

could require employees who opt out of union membership to pay what's known as a fair share

or agency fee to cover the cost of collective bargaining. But they couldn't be forced to fund

political expenditures. In the Friedrich's case in 2015, a group of teachers argued that forcing

them to subsidize the cost of collective bargaining over public employee's salaries and benefits is inherently political and indistinguishable from lobbying. And for that reason, it violates the First Amendment. It was the perfect opportunity for the court to overrule the Abu decision. And in fact, the court had previously called into question the continued

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