'New territory': Supreme Court ends historic term with big shift to the right on abortion, guns
In a term in which tensions often spilled out into the open, the Supreme Court overturned its major abortion precedent, limited others and changed how lower courts will decide culture war issues.
![Portrait of John Fritze](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2023/08/29/USAT/ad7c1f1b-3236-479f-ac97-83f160f0b168-edits8.jpg?crop=1385,1385,x1,y110&width=48&height=48&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
- Several observers said the Supreme Court term that ended Thursday was as chaotic as it was historic.
- The court decided high-profile cases with the conservative justices aligned against the liberals.
- That included decisions expanding access to guns and ending the constitutional right to abortion.
WASHINGTON – Back when the Supreme Court justices took their seats last fall for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered their majestic courtroom, the hot controversy was whether too many cases were being decided without oral argument.
Nine months later, after a bombshell term that brought about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the striking down of at least one and potentially many other gun laws and a rethinking of the separation between church and state, the court has thrust itself into America's culture wars in a way experts say the nation has not witnessed in decades.
With a 6-3 advantage bolstered by President Donald Trump's three nominees, the high court's conservatives aligned in decision after decision – often reaching beyond a narrow outcome to set new standards that could affect the law for years, or even decades, to come.