The ruling, due by next summer, will determine not only the validity of Trump’s multibillion-dollar tariffs and their impact on businesses and consumers, but also the willingness of the court to apply its restrictions on executive authority to presidents of both parties.

California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero began the court’s oral argument session Tuesday with a tribute to former Justice Joseph Grodin, who died in April at age 94.

(Subscription required) While specific to an employment dispute, the oral arguments in Fuentes v. Empire Nissan Inc. in San Francisco delved into a broader issue of how and when a court should decide that an arbitration agreement is so procedurally flawed that it becomes substantively unconscionable as well, and thus invalid.

The conservative jurist whose powerful belief in individual liberty shaped some of most influential U.S. Supreme Court rulings of the past 40 years has blue eyes that flash and sparkle as he looks at you, and a life story that outlines the history, culture and politics of Sacramento, his beloved hometown.