U.S. Supreme Court docket polarizing

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court began its new term Monday with a docket of complex and emotional cases that have divided lower-court judges as well as the country.

The docket includes a fourth look at how the Bush administration and Congress handle terrorism detainees, a case that tests the limits of presidential power and numerous discrimination and employment cases, The New York Times reported Monday.

The justices also are to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection and a party battle on voting rights that will fall in the middle of next year's presidential election, The Washington Post reported Monday.

"The court is showing a willingness to keep on taking these kinds of issues even though they are going to be divisive," said Richard W. Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and former clerk to the late chief justice William H. Rehnquist.