Some of the cases that will be heard by the Supreme Court in the term that begins Monday:

ABORTION PROTESTS: An appeal involving a claim that an anti-abortion group’s protests violated federal racketeering and extortion laws (Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, 04-1244, and Operation Rescue v. National Organization for Women, 04-1352).

ASSISTED SUICIDE: A test of a unique state law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly (Gonzales v. Oregon, 04-623).

DEATH PENALTY: The most significant of five death penalty cases asks when people should get an additional chance to prove their innocence based on new evidence such as DNA (House v. Bell, 04-8990).

TAX BREAKS: A constitutional test of tax incentives to lure companies to build manufacturing plants and other projects (DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Coon, 04-1704, Wiliness v. Coon, 04-1724).

DISABLED INMATES: A federal powers case that will decide if states and counties can be sued for not accommodating disabled prisoners (United States v. Georgia, 04-1203, and Goodman v. Georgia, 04-1236).

RELIGIOUS TEA: A case that asks if federal drug laws trump church members’ constitutional rights to use hallucinogenic tea in services (Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, 04-1084).

STUDENT LOANS: An appeal that will decide if the federal government can seize a person’s Social Security payments to pay off old student loan debts (Lockport v. United States, 04-881).

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