THE SUPREME COURT declined Monday to hear cases involving affirmative action, gun control, and transgender issues, thereby avoiding a trio of hot-button topics that have deeply divided the nation. The decisions to postpone these cases drew objections from conservative justices, which suggests divisions on the Court about whether and when to address major questions left open by recent decisions.
The court will today take up arguments in a case that could reduce the scope of one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. The case deals with the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates that the government consider the environmental impacts of its actions before moving ahead with them.
