The new Supreme Court term begins today and will include cases on such topics as illegal immigration, violent video games, DNA evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, sentencing and right to counsel. Court watchers will be looking for clues to how Justice Kagan will approach cases, though they may not get a complete picture of the newest Justice this term. Kagan has recused from 25 of the 54 cases on the docket so far, because she was involved in them as Solicitor General. In the event of a four-to-four vote, the lower court’s ruling is automatically affirmed.
The New York Times calls the “marquee case on the docket so far” a suit brought by Albert Snyder, the father of a dead Marine against a Kansas church whose members protested at his son’s funeral. That case will be argued on Wednesday. Snyder won an $11 million jury verdict, but an appeals court threw out the award on First Amendment grounds. In another First Amendment case the court will decide whether states may restrict sales of violent video games to minors; lower courts have said no. The court will also hear several pre-emption cases, one involving seat belts and another vaccines.