Among the colorful cases on the docket is one about profanity on television, in which the high court will hear an appeals court case that involves swearing by Cher and Paris Hilton on a prime-time awards show, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The justices also will decide this term whether adherents of a faith called Summum may place a monument to the "Seven Aphorisms" of their faith in a Utah park that already has a monument devoted to the Ten Commandments.

Many of the cases this term will refine relatively well-established legal doctrines rather than break new legal ground, the Times said.

Among the most significant cases of the term involve pre-emption, where state courts are barred from hearing lawsuits over products that meet federal standards.

"Corporate America has discovered that they would much rather be regulated by one government in Washington than by 50 state governments, or by the most aggressive of them," said Kathleen M. Sullivan, a law professor at Stanford University.