Supreme Court ready to tackle climate, immigration and gun rights. Here are 5 cases to watch

The Supreme Court opens a new term Monday with 30 cases accepted, spanning climate liability, firearms, immigration and religious liberty. Amy Howe, a PBS News Supreme Court analyst, says the summer was hardly quiet, since a flood of emergency-docket petitions forces brief, usually unsigned, temporary rulings that can still carry lasting consequences, according to PBS NewsHour.

Arguments begin Oct. 5 in a climate case: Boulder, Colorado, and its county sued Suncor and Exxon Mobil in 2018 seeking money for climate harm, and the justices must decide whether state law permits it, while the companies say federal law and the Constitution bar it. Justice Samuel Alito recused himself Sept. 28. In December, the court considers an Illinois local ban on assault weapons, including AR-15s, and whether the Second and 14th Amendments protect possessing semiautomatic weapons.

On immigration, the court ruled Sept. 29 on its emergency docket that President Donald Trump may keep deporting people to third countries, and it will later weigh the policy's legality and whether immigrants can object beforehand. Thursday it also took up Trump's mandatory detention policy, which denies bond hearings to anyone arrested inside the country; the administration cites a 1996 law.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →