The Supreme Court is set to begin a term that could lead to enhanced rights for terrorism detainees, a ruling against part of a child pornography law and shorter prison terms for crack cocaine dealers.
Whatever happened to the court's march to the right?
The answer, it seems safe to say, is that little has changed on the bench, where Justice Anthony Kennedy remains the decisive vote between four conservatives and four liberals.
The difference with the term that begins Monday is the mix of cases that are before the justices. Instead of last term's defining cases — abortion, race and campaign finance — in which Kennedy's views aligned him with the conservatives, the big issues are those on which Kennedy has more often sided with the liberals.
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The Guantanamo case is the only national security matter the court has yet agreed to review. But related administration policies, including warrantless wiretapping and the claim that state secrets could be revealed if some court cases are allowed to go forward, also could make it to the high court this term.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_new_term_2
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