Supreme Court's new term brings fresh opportunity for conservative majority to flex its muscle
CBSN
Washington — The Supreme Court is set to gather Monday to kick off its new nine-month term, one that is expected to bring another round of divisive decisions on hot-button issues like affirmative action, voting rights, elections and LGBTQ discrimination, cases that could showcase the power of the court's six-justice conservative majority.
But as the justices prepare to take the bench — before members of the public for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — the court is also confronting historically low levels of public confidence, which plummeted before and after the June decision unwinding the constitutional right to an abortion.
The high court's last term offered no shortage of blockbuster rulings expanding gun rights, reversing Roe v. Wade, curtailing the Environmental Protection Agency's power to combat climate change and protecting religious freedom, and the justices are hardly steering away from politically charged cases.
Almost four out of every 10 people in the United States live in a place where air pollution is considered bad enough to put their health at risk, the American Lung Association warned in its latest "State of the Air" report released on Wednesday. That proportion of people — about 39% of the population — had risen sharply since earlier rounds of pollutant data were analyzed for the annual report last year, and the trends were especially pronounced in certain parts of the country.
Between now and 2030, about 10,000 Americans will turn 65 every single day, highlighting a growing concern about the nation's preparedness for elder care often falling on the shoulders of their adult children. This has given rise to a term known as the "sandwich generation," defined as adults who find themselves caring for their aging parents while still raising their own children.