After two “dry” terms, the U.S. Supreme Court faces a range of cases this year that will likely garner intense public interest, Professor Lisa McElroy predicted during an interview on WHYY’s Radio Times on Feb. 2.

This year’s docket features the constitutionality of federal health reforms and questions on whether states can enact immigration laws, whether TV and radio broadcasters should be penalized for fleeting expletives on the air waves and whether lying about military heroism constitutes free speech, McElroy told guest host Tracy Matisak.

The decision to hear the case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found the reforms to be unconstitutional seems to signal that the high court will uphold the controversial law, McElroy said.

“Where the Supreme Court agrees to hear a case, very often it’s because they’re going to reverse the lower court,” McElroy explained. “In the vast majority of cases, it does happen that way. So it may give us a little clue as to which way the court might be going with it.”

Despite keen interest in the topic during a presidential election year, McElroy predicted that the court will not allow cameras into the courtroom to record the three-day spectacle.

“The court is tradition bound,” she said.