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It comes with a dense appendix of the courts ' workload - - the diminishing number of cases the high court itself accepts has been much commented on in legal circles - - and with such arcane findings as " the national median time from filing of a civil case to its disposition was 8.3 months , which reflected a decline from the 9.5-month median period in 2005 . " As the Supreme Court began a new term yesterday in which it will rule on landmark social issues , it rejected about 1,900 appeals that piled up during the summer recess.Among the cases the justices declined to hear were a challenge to a Texas law that bans the sale of sex toys , objections by parents in California to a mandatory class on Islam , and an appeal of lower-court rulings that the managers of Detroit newspapers acted improperly when they fired striking workers . The two meticulously sifted through the Congressional Record to identify key claims made by each side to support its case and to rebut the assertions of opponents . Yesterday in Richmond , a House committee approved a bill that would ban taxpayer money going to religious and charitable groups that provide assistance to illegal immigrants.The legislation was sponsored by Jackson Miller , the newly elected Republican delegate from Manassas , who said he was upset that taxpayers ' money was used to fund a day-laborer center in Herndon in 2005.The county government study was able to determine only the specific costs of illegal immigration at the county jail and juvenile detention center and the administrative costs of processing emergency Medicaid applications at hospitals and clinics.Most of the $ 3 million was spent housing illegal immigrants at the jail , according to the study.Gerhart said the county could not determine how much the school system spends on illegal immigrants , because students are not required to provide proof of legal status.Prince William 's study was unusual because it was the first attempt by a local government in the region to determine the price tag of funding local services for illegal immigrants , according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the National Council of La Raza , a leading Hispanic civil rights group . In that way , they also are most like the cases the Supreme Court hears , said Donald R. Songer , a political scientist at the University of South Carolina who studies appellate courts.The idea of trying to gauge a judge 's ideology from his voting patterns on different types of cases is unpopular among law professors who prefer to study legal reasoning case by case . The conservative push on social issues is just what Democrats and liberals , concerned about the future of Roe v. Wade , the 1973 case that recognized a right to abortion , warned against during confirmation hearings for the two Bush appointees now on the court - - Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.In response , Roberts and Alito pledged to take due account of stare decisis , the rule that says the court should avoid overruling past decisions.So this term will be closely watched not only for the results the court reaches , but for how it reaches them . The two leading national universities are at Tokyo and Kyoto . It will be the second full term for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr ., who succeeded the late William H. Rehnquist , and the first full term for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr ., who replaced the more moderate Sandra Day O'Connor . " The Supreme Court 's first decision of its young term was a swift but divided opinion upholding the death penalty for a California man who killed a young woman during a burglary more than 25 years ago.Yesterday 's 5 to 4 decision was the second time the fate of Fernando Belmontes reached the Supreme Court , and once again the justices sent it back to the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit , saying the appeals court had misinterpreted the high court 's rulings in overturning Belmontes 's death sentence . " The California sentencing law that the court strikes down today is indistinguishable in any constitutionally significant respect " from the remedy the court offered in 2005 , Alito wrote.From the beginning , Kennedy and Breyer have opposed the court 's resistance to systems that allow judicial discretion.The debate may seem procedural rather than substantive , but the case that arrived at the court shows the impact.Police officer John Cunningham was convicted in 2003 of molesting his young son , who had come to live with him and his girlfriend . " Among the school systems ' eclectic band of supporters : The American Psychological Association , a coalition of historians , the NCAA and a group of former professional basketball players , and 10 former high-ranking Defense Department officials.On the other side , the Bush administration and a number of conservative legal organizations have joined the white parents in the two cities who brought the suits .