Supreme Court begins new term with voting, election cases at forefront

The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday with voting and election cases at the forefront.

Among the cases being considered by the justices are ones on the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, an appeal that could impact how elections for Congress and the presidency are conducted by giving more power to state legislatures and less to state courts and colleges taking into account race in admissions decisions, according to the Associated Press.

The nine-member court begins its fall term with surveys showing it having less of the public's confidence after its spring term, in which the court's conservative-leaning majority overturned the Roe v. Wade case that ended decades of federal protections for abortion – but not before a draft opinion on the decision was leaked to the news media.

In the new term, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will join the court as its first black female, replacing retiring liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer. However, Jackson's arrival is not expected to change the court's composition of six conservatives and three liberals.

The first case of the term, with opening arguments Monday, is on a request to limit the federal government's reach through the Clean Water Act. The case involves an Idaho couple in their effort to build a house on property near a lake without getting a permit under the environment law, with the ruling having the potential to change the rules for millions of acres of property that includes wetlands, also according to the wire service.

Another case on the high court's agenda is that of a business owner with a religious objection to working with same-sex couples for their weddings.