(The Hill) — When the Supreme Court starts its new term Monday, the six Republican-appointed justices are expected to resume the project they began the last term of remaking U.S. constitutional law in a conservative image.
Environment
The Supreme Court’s first case of the new term involves a major environmental dispute over the federal government’s power to protect the nation’s waterways under the Clean Water Act.
The central question is whether the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory reach extends to wetlands that are not connected to federal waters above ground — but are capable of reaching these waters below the surface.
Affirmative action
A pair of cases will challenge the use of race-conscious admissions in higher education. Lawsuits against Harvard and the University of North Carolina ask the justices to end affirmative action in college admissions decisions by overruling a longstanding precedent that permits schools to consider race as a factor when assembling a student body.
Election law
The justices will hear an election law case that could hand state legislatures sweeping new powers over how voting maps are drawn and federal elections conducted.
Voting rights
The justices will weigh a voting rights case that tests the legal limits on alleged racial gerrymandering, which involves the drawing of voting maps in a manner that dilutes the electoral power of racial minorities.
LGBTQ discrimination
The Supreme Court will hear a First Amendment dispute that deals with a Colorado website designer’s refusal to make her services available for same-sex weddings.
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