WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court begins a new term Monday with the most important civil rights agenda in years on the horizon and amid intensified scrutiny of the relationship between Chief Justice John Roberts and his fellow conservatives.
If last term’s blockbuster cases involving immigration and President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act centered on the reach of the federal government’s powers, this term offers a chance to cast the 21st century meaning of the Constitution’s guarantee of equal rights.
A combination of cases asks the court to decide whether special protections and accommodations for minorities have reached their limit and whether society’s growing acceptance of same-sex unions warrants constitutional protection.
The justices will consider the viability of affirmative action in college admissions when it hears a challenge next week to the University of Texas’s race-conscious selection process.
And there are challenges awaiting the court’s action on the most controversial part of the Voting Rights Act — the civil rights-era requirement that some states with a history of racial discrimination receive federal approval before enacting voting or election-law changes.
The court seems all but certain to confront the issue of same-sex marriage by considering lawsuits against the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. The law’s provision denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal has been deemed unconstitutional both by the Obama administration and lower courts that have considered it.
In addition, the court will be asked to review a decision that overturned California’s Proposition 8, in which voters amended the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
A decision on whether to accept the gay rights cases is likely to come in November.
This term opens with questions about the unity of the five Republican-nominated justices who since 2006 have had a remarkable impact on the court’s jurisprudence: striking down campaign finance regulations, approving federal restrictions on abortion and expressing doubts about government programs that make distinctions based on race.
“I think there’s no question this Supreme Court is the most conservative in our lifetime,” said Georgetown law professor Michael Seidman. “But there is a question about what kind of conservatives they are.”
Justice Anthony Kennedy is likely to resume his role as the pivotal justice. But the greatest intrigue will surround Roberts, who, in the most important case of his tenure, sided with the court’s four liberals in June to affirm the constitutionality of Obama’s health-care act.
Steven Teles, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University who wrote a book, “The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement,” said the unique nature of the health-care case makes it hard to draw greater lessons about Roberts.
Roberts’ decision reveals more of how he views his role as chief justice, Teles said. “Roberts wanted to limit or cripple the ACA [Affordable Care Act] as much as possible consistent with preserving the legitimacy of the Court. And I think he did that.”
On the docket
Racial preferences: On Oct. 10, the court will weigh Texas’ limited use of race to help fill out its incoming classes.
Human rights: On Monday, the justices will consider whether American courts may be used by foreign victims to sue over human rights violations abroad.
Fighting terrorism:On Oct. 29, the government is trying to shut down a constitutional challenge to a law that lets the United States eavesdrop on overseas communications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
