The first day of October will be the first day of the Supreme Court’s new term, and the justices have already chosen to hear several cases that may well be decided by narrow majorities, as Scalia and Thomas have been joined by Roberts and Alito to form a reliable, ultraconservative voting bloc, with Kennedy as the new swing vote on a Court transformed by Bush Administration nominees.

People For the American Way Foundation has published a preview of several of these cases — cases that could have a profound impact on the rights of Americans, the limits of presidential power, and the conduct of partisan politics. The issues at stake include:

• the rights of workers who have experienced discrimination to obtain justice in the courts;
• the validity of the Bush Administration’s claim to virtually unlimited power in conducting the war on terror;
• the use of party conventions to choose judicial candidates;
• whether candidates may ally themselves with a political party in a state primary election, even when the party doesn’t want them.

See the analysis here. PFAWF will continue to monitor and comment on new cases as the Court adds them to its docket. (Our analysis of the Court’s prior term, the first full term with both Roberts and Alito on the bench, is here.)