US Supreme Court returns with docket of contentious cases

WASHINGTON: The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court, after delivering landmark rulings on abortion, guns and the environment, began a new term on Monday packed with more controversial cases.

First up on the docket for the nation´s highest court was a dispute involving the authority of the federal government to regulate wetlands under the 1972 Clean Water Act. Among those asking questions during oral arguments was Ketanji Brown Jackson, 52, who was named to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden and is the first African-American woman to sit on the court.

The justices are seated in terms of seniority and Jackson, who replaced 84-year-old Stephen Breyer, one of the three liberals on the nine-member panel, was seated at the far left of Chief Justice John Roberts, who sits in the middle.