Gitmo detainees on Supreme Court docket

[babylonsister]

Gitmo detainees on Supreme Court docket

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 30, 7:49 AM ET

WASHINGTON - 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.

The court has become more conservative since Sandra Day O'Connor retired in 2006 and was replaced by Justice Samuel Alito.

Looking ahead to this term's lineup of cases, "I can't identify a significant win for conservatives," said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who writes about the court and argues before it.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_new_term