Nina Totenberg

The court will consider the legality of the law on Nov. 1. The highly unusual court action is an indication of deep internal splits within the court.

The Supreme Court appeared to lean toward reinstating the death sentence imposed on the Boston Marathon bomber. The liberal justices were incredulous at the actions of the judge in the original trial.

The court's liberal justices appeared incredulous about the actions of the district court judge in the original proceedings, but the conservatives appeared unpersuaded.

The federal government is appealing a lower court ruling that overturned Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence.

Both liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices pressed the U.S. government's lawyer about why a detainee at Guantanamo Bay couldn't testify about his own torture at the hands of the CIA.

But a majority of the court appeared inclined to defer to the government's position that the release of information on Abu Zubaydah's treatment would hurt national security.

The case's central issue concerns whether a Guantánamo Bay detainee who has never been charged with a crime can subpoena testimony from the CIA contractors who supervised his torture.

Monday was the first day of the Supreme Court's new term. It was the first time in more than a year that almost all the justices were at the court.

If some of the justices greet the new term with great anticipation for a new conservative legal era, others likely are facing the term with dread.

The U.S. Supreme Court starts a new term Monday with a menu of high-profile cases, from abortion to gun rights and religious rights.

Alito said the term has been adopted by "journalists and some political figures" in order to convey the idea that "something sneaky and dangerous" is going on at the high court.

On Dec. 1, the court will hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The Mississippi case tests whether all state laws that ban pre-viability abortions are unconstitutional.

President Biden's nominee for the solicitor general, who presents the government's position in the Supreme Court, is Elizabeth Prelogar. She's served in the job on an acting basis since January 2021.

"If the Democrats can do it, the Republicans can do it," Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told NPR's Nina Totenberg.

But the justice was philosophical about the outcome: "I wrote a dissent — and that's the way it works," he said. The decision was part of what court watchers call the "shadow docket."

In an interview with NPR, the 83-year-old said: "When exactly I should retire, or will retire, has many complex parts to it. I think I'm aware of most of them, and I ... will consider them."

The court's most conservative members upheld the Texas law, but almost as important as the result was how the court reached its decision — without full briefing and arguments before any court.

The Supreme Court's most conservative members upheld a Texas law banning abortions after about six weeks. But the court reached its decision without full briefing and arguments before any court.

The law bans abortions after cardiac activity is detected, usually about six weeks into pregnancy and well before many people even know they are pregnant. The ruling is at odds with court precedents.

The law also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who helps a woman obtain an abortion, including those who give a woman a ride to a clinic.