Explainer: How the conservative Supreme Court is reshaping U.S. law | Reuters

Explainer: How the conservative Supreme Court is reshaping U.S. law | Reuters

By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court's most consequential term in decades, with blockbuster rulings on abortion, guns, religion and climate change policy, illustrated how its expanded conservative majority is willing to boldly use its power with far-reaching impacts on American society. read more

Democratic President Joe Biden's appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, sworn in on Thursday to replace retiring fellow liberal Justice Stephen Breyer on Thursday, does not change the court's ideological balance, with a 6-3 conservative majority.The majority's assertiveness could continue in a number of major cases in the court's next term, which begins in October.

Here is a look at what the court did in its latest term, which ended on Thursday, and where it is headed.

ABORTION AND PERSONAL FREEDOM

In the June 24 abortion ruling, the court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure nationwide, giving conservative activists a long-awaited victory. The court returned abortion regulation to the states. The decision immediately led to conservative-leaning states seeking to enforce total bans and other abortion restrictions that had previously been blocked by lower courts. read moreSome conservatives would like to go further and ban abortion nationwide, either through an act of Congress or via a Supreme Court decision, although it remains to be seen if the justices would be receptive to such an approach.

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas caused alarm on the left by writing in his concurring opinion that the court should consider overturning other precedents going back decades protecting individual freedoms including gay marriage, same-sex intimacy and access to birth control. It is unclear if other justices would sign on to such a move.

GUNS

In another landmark ruling expanding gun rights, the court on June 23 found that the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to carry a handgun in public.

The ruling, which invalidated New York's limits on that practice as a violation of the Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms," will have the biggest impact in states and localities with stricter gun control measures in place. read more

Legal scholars predict that other gun restrictions will fall given that the ruling also declared that, going forward, lower courts must assess the constitutionality of gun restrictions by comparing them to those traditionally adopted throughout U.S. history.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND FEDERAL REGULATION

The Supreme Court on Thursday curbed the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in a ruling that limits federal agency power. read more