Supreme Court welcomes the public again, and a new justice

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is beginning its new term after a break for summer. Monday’s (Oct. 3, 2022) arguments are the first the justices will hear since issuing a landmark ruling stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion. Monday’s session is also the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black female justice, will participate in arguments. And it’s the first time the public will be able to attend since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. A new stack of high-profile cases awaits the justices. Several cases the court has agreed to hear involve race or elections or both, and the court has also agreed to hear a dispute that returns the issue of free speech and LGBTQ rights to the court.