The Supreme Court and its nascent conservative majority largely stayed out of the political fray during the last term absent a few key cases involving issues like political gerrymandering. But with the new term beginning Monday, the justices are poised to tackle thornier, partisan subjects with the potential to change the direction of the court in the midst of the 2020 election cycle.

Over the next eight months, the high court will weigh issues that animate both liberals and conservatives with high-profile cases on abortion, gun rights, LGBTQ workplace discrimination and the fate of an Obama-era program that has shielded young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children from deportation. The new court session is likely to leave some kind of mark on the 2020 elections like it has in past cycles.

In 2016, a Supreme Court vacancy triggered a high-stakes fight to appoint a successor in the remaining months of Barack Obama's presidency. Republicans successfully blocked Democrats' nominee Merrick Garland and used it as an issue to boost the party's odds of holding the Senate and to help elevate Donald Trump to the presidency.

Two years later, Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the court threw a curveball into the 2018 midterms after a contentious confirmation fight that centered on past allegations of sexual assault that he has denied. The red-state Senate Democrats who lost reelection last year have attributed their opposition to Kavanaugh's nomination as a reason for their defeat.

Now with the 2020 cycle in full swing, the high court could play an outsized role again in the election with an expected shift to the right after two Trump-appointed justices joined the bench.

"In the last couple of terms, the court shied away from big issues that were going to be potentially divisive. Now it seems like the gloves are off," says Sara Benesh, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

"The docket this term is filled with some of these really contentious social issues that will impact how people are viewing the court. At times, the Supreme Court can energize interested parties and have an indirect effect on who gets energized to vote and participate."

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The opening days of the term quickly threw the Supreme Court into the spotlight as the justices considered the LGBTQ workplace discrimination case that drew hundreds of activists to protest. The high court heard oral arguments on Tuesday to determine if federal employment law that prohibits firing an employee on the basis of sex also applies to sexual orientation and gender identity.

And in the days leading up to the new session, the justices added another politically charged issue to their docket, agreeing to consider a Louisiana law that tightens restrictions on abortion providers.

The more prominent cases are usually decided at the end of the term in late June, leaving landmark decisions on the rights of gay and transgender individuals, gun owners, women and young immigrants until just five months out from the November election.

LGBTQ Workplace Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is at the center of the cases before the high court on workplace rights for gay and transgender employees.

A gay skydiving instructor in New York says he was fired becuase of his sexual orientation, while another challenge comes from a Georgia social worker who says he was also terminated for similar reasons. The other case involves a transgender woman from Michigan who says she was terminated from her job at a funeral home because of her gender identity.

At Tuesday's hearing, the justices appeared divided, with Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch emerging as a potential swing vote in the case. During arguments, he suggested that the plaintiffs' sex was at least a contributing factor to their firing. But Gorsuch also questioned whether the court should decide on the interpretation of the 1964 law over Congress.

"The Supreme Court can have an indirect effect on who gets energized to vote."

Gorsuch asked whether the court should "take into consideration the massive social upheaval that would be entailed in such a decision" and if it's more "appropriate a legislative rather than a judicial function." He added, "It's a question of judicial modesty."

American Civil Liberties Union legal director David Cole, who is representing Aimee Stephens in the transgender case, argued that they're not asking the court to "redefine" or "update" the definition of sex. The four liberal justices appeared likely to side with the fired employees that Title VII protects them from workplace discrimination.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who is representing the Trump administration in the case, argued that Congress didn't include sexual orientation as part of Title VII more than five decades ago and that the legislative body should be responsible for making that determination.

Louisiana's Abortion Law

Louisiana passed a law in 2014 requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital up to 30 miles from where the abortion is being performed. Critics argue the law could leave the state with just one doctor and one clinic eligible to perform the procedure.

The Supreme Court in February blocked enforcement of the law as it decided whether to take up the case. Last week, the justices agreed to hear the case that resembles a nearly identical Texas law that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2016. The court ruled that Texas' law didn't provide many health benefits and placed an "undue burden" on a woman's right to seek an abortion. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has since retired, was the swing vote in the 2016 decision.

Benesh says she sees the abortion case as the one that has the potential to make the biggest waves this term. She said that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure was the catalyst of the anti-abortion movement. If the court rules in favor of the Louisiana law, Benesh argued the decision can have a similar effect on pro-abortion rights activists.

"The one I think is really the one that could cause disruption in the election is the abortion case," Benesh says. "It may be that a decision that comes down this term really invigorates the pro-choice movement."

The case prominently pushes abortion rights to the forefront as more Southern and Midwestern states enact laws that place new restrictions on abortions like "heartbeat bills," which ban the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

Challenge to DACA

Trump and his views on immigration will be on display in November, when the court hears the case on whether the president's termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was lawful.

Trump ended DACA in 2017, arguing that Congress should come up with legislation to address young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors.

Benesh says the question posed to the court is: "Did he go about it in the right way?" Trump's challengers are arguing that his administration broke federal administrative law in the way it terminated DACA.

The termination of the program, which has prevented the deportation of around 800,000 young immigrants has been blocked by several lower courts.

Trump weighed in on the case this week, arguing that the Supreme Court striking down the law will "actually benefit" DACA and force Congress to make a deal to extend protections to young immigrants.

"If the Supreme Court upholds DACA, it gives the President extraordinary powers, far greater than ever thought. If they do what is right and do not let DACA stand, with all of its negative legal implications, the Republicans and Democrats will have a DEAL to let them stay in our Country, in very short order," Trump tweeted Wednesday.

Gun Rights in New York

It's the first time in a decade that the Supreme Court has considered a case on gun rights. In 2008, the court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms and have a gun in the home for self defense. In 2010, the decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago extended that right in states and localities.

The case, which has a hearing scheduled for December, challenges a New York City law that allowed individuals with handgun permits to keep their weapons in their homes or transport them to and from one of several gun ranges within the city but banned them from traveling with their firearms outside of city limits.

New York officials sought to get the case dismissed since the law was repealed this summer. The Supreme Court refused to dismiss the case but said it will also consider the issue of mootness during oral arguments.

Gun control has become a prominent issue in light of a string of deadly mass shootings this year in Texas, California and Ohio. Democrats in Congress are looking to make a deal with the White House to pass new laws on guns, but those efforts have stalled yet again and look unlikely to happen in the near future, especially with the House's ongoing impeachment inquiry.

The Supreme Court and the 2020 Election

Since Roe v. Wade, the courts and judicial issues have been topics that are "always culturally relevant for Republican base voters," a Republican national strategist says.

Kavanaugh's nomination and the allegations of sexual misconduct could still fire up liberal activists, but Republicans wonder if Democrats' focus on a host of other issues – and mainly Trump – takes attention away from the courts.

"The universal issue for them is Trump and defeating Trump. Maybe that changes in time, but [the courts] are competing with a lot of other topics," the Republican strategist says. "Where for conservatives, it doesn't need to compete because it's already locked in as an issue."

Progressive activists acknowledge that Republicans have been successful at rallying their base around the courts. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky prevented Obama's Supreme Court nominee from getting a confirmation hearing in 2016. Since Trump's election, Republicans have confirmed a record number of judicial nominees to the lower courts as well as two Supreme Court appointments.

This cycle, Democrats are talking more about court reforms and about half a dozen candidates support expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court. Aaron Belkin, director of Take Back the Courts, says he's emboldened by the fact that more candidates are pushing reforms, but it remains an open question if the eventual Democratic nominee will make it a top issue.