After a significant term defined by rulings on school vouchers and the death penalty, Supreme Court justices return to the bench Monday to take up a slate of interesting cases with important implications for American life.
The court has announced it will hear cases on such hot-button issues as cross burning, abortion protests, three-strikes laws and sex offender notification statutes, as well as state efforts to regulate HMOs and keep down the costs of prescription drug prices. And in the months to come it also could add a key affirmative action case as well as other cases addressing the constitutionality of criminal procedures implemented after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
With those cases on the horizon, the justices are in for what many observers predict will be an extraordinarily important term, one that could leave a dramatic imprint on the law.
“Before it is all over, it is likely to be regarded as a historic term,” said Steven Shapiro, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which could have up to eight cases before the court this session. “But many of the most important cases are still working their way toward the court.”
With just over 40 cases on its docket so far, the court will add others every week until it gets close to 75 or so. Among those scheduled are cases challenging the use of race in university admissions and the legality of closing immigration proceedings for hundreds of people detained after the Sept. 11 attacks.

— Jan Crawford Greenburg, Chicago Tribune