Supreme Court docket includes First Amendment rights, religious freedom

The Supreme Court resumed session last week.

On The Daily Circuit, we take a look at the important upcoming cases on the docket for this year.

Learn more about session:

• Supreme Court's Robust New Session Could Define Legacy of Chief Justice
"I'm more excited about the next 12 months at the Supreme Court than about any Supreme Court term in its modern history," said Thomas C. Goldstein, who argues frequently before the court and is the publisher of Scotusblog. (New York Times)

• Battle Over Abortion May Return to the Supreme Court
Perhaps the most controversial, expansive and prominent piece of state legislation regulating abortion is at the Supreme Court's doorstep right now, as opponents to Texas's 2013 abortion omnibus bill, House Bill 2, have asked the high court to stop certain provisions from closing clinics while lower courts debate the law's constitutionality. House Bill 2 is a particularly contentious piece of abortion legislation, both in its scope -- which includes regulations on clinic structures, requirements that doctors receive hospital admitting privileges, and restrictions on medical abortion -- and in the nation-wide reaction as opponents tried and failed to stop its passage. (U.S. News and World Report)

• Wisconsin and Texas voter ID laws blocked by courts
By a 6-3 vote, the justices granted an emergency appeal from civil rights lawyers, who argued it was too late to put the rule into effect this year. (LA Times)

• How the Supreme Court Protects Bad Cops
In recent years, the court has made it very difficult, and often impossible, to hold police officers and the governments that employ them accountable for civil rights violations. This undermines the ability to deter illegal police behavior and leaves victims without compensation. When the police kill or injure innocent people, the victims rarely have recourse. (NY Times)