Supreme Court shifts slowly to the right in first term with expanded conservative majority

Washington — All eyes were on the Supreme Court this term as it ushered in a new era with an expanded conservative majority and a full third of its membership having been appointed by former President Donald Trump.

While the high court's term concluded with two high-profile decisions that split along ideological lines — the first upholding a pair of Arizona election rules, which sparked a fiery dissent from Justice Elena Kagan, and the second striking down a California donor disclosure rule — it also produced a number of rulings that cut across those divisions, bringing a slower start to its conservative transformation than many observers had anticipated. "This has been a less ideologically riven court than many expected," said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University. "There were five different 5-4 lineups and six different 6-3 lineups, though there were also more 6-3 decisions than 5-4 decisions, driven in part by the ideological balance of the court."