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The article discusses the ruling on abortion rights cases in light of the appointment of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Two pending cases challenge the federal ban on a late-term procedure and rulings on these cases will be the first abortion ruling tendered by the new U.S. Supreme Court. Legal scholars say opinions on the upcoming cases are expected to shed light on how the court intends to reshape itself.

Focuses on the pivotal role of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the court following the retirement of Chief Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2005. Views of Christopher Yoo, a law professor at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, on the legal jurisprudential commitments of Kennedy; Decision of the justice on a law concerning homosexual sodomy in Texas; Stance of Kennedy on abortion issues.

The article reports that James Dobson, leader of the group Focus on the Family, has been criticized after he pronounced a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the 2003 federal law outlawing partial birth abortion a victory for the right-to-life movement. The Colorado affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee argued on the impact of the ruling on physicians. It cites the decision of the board of the said committee to drop the Colorado group from its ranks.

Focuses on the impact of the possible confirmation of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. at the U.S. Supreme Court on a 1973 ruling that declared a constitutional right to abortions. Benefits of the nomination of the judge for conservatives; Views of Paul Freedman, an associate professor of politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, on the ruling; Potential implications of a state-by-state abortion debate for the electoral chances of Republican politicians.

Profiles Sandra Day O'Connor, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Preference on judicial decision-making; Position on the constitutional right to abortion; Decision on upholding a racial preference.