U.S. Supreme Court building. (Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images)

The inmate, Michael Johnson, argued that the deprivation of yard time – in the absence of a true security justification – violated the Constitution’s ban on cruel and inhumane punishment.

Activists demonstrate as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions, in Washington, Oct. 31, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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The court's conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

Michael Martin of Springfield, Va., with UpVote Virginia, holds a sign that reads “End Gerrymandering Again!” and speaks with Nadine Seiler of Waldorf, Md., in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)

In nearly three hours of arguments, liberal and conservative justices appeared to take issue with the main thrust of a challenge asking them to essentially eliminate the power of state courts to strike down legislature-drawn, gerrymandered congressional district maps on grounds that they violate state constitutions.

Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stands between Associate Justice Samuel Alito, left, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, right, as she and members of the Supreme Court pose for a new group portrait following her addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)

Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court and its newest justice, said before the term began that she was “ready to work.” She made that clear during arguments in the opening cases.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, March 18, 2022 in Washington. The Supreme Court opens its new term on Monday, Oct. 3. (AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana, File)

Monday’s session also is the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black female justice, will participate in arguments. And the public is back for the first time since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In this image from video provided by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts administers the Constitutional Oath to Ketanji Brown Jackson as her husband Patrick Jackson holds the Bible at the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 30, 2022. (Supreme Court via AP)

Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal judge since 2013, is joining three other women — the first time four women will serve together on the nine-member court. President Joe Biden nominated Jackson in February, a month after Stephen Breyer, 83, announced he would retire. 

Ketanji Brown Jackson appears at the White House on April 8, 2022. (CNN)
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Judge Ketanji BrownJackson will not only be the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court, she’ll also be the first former public defender.

Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, April 23, 2021. Seated from left are Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Standing from left are Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. (Erin Schaff / The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will join a Supreme Court that is both more diverse than ever and more conservative than it’s been since the 1930s.

President Joe Biden goes to hug Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as they watch the Senate vote on her confirmation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 7, 2022. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)

The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, shattering a historic barrier by securing her place as the first Black female justice and giving President Joe Biden a bipartisan endorsement for his effort to diversify the court.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles as Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., arrives for a meeting in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The senators from Alaska and Utah announced their decisions ahead of a procedural vote to advance the nomination and as Democrats pressed to confirm Jackson by the end of the week. 

President Joe Biden arrives on Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, early Sunday, March 27, 2022, in Washington, after a four-day trip to Europe. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster)

With the last nine, unscripted words of an impassioned speech about Russia's aggression in Ukraine, President Joe Biden created a troubling distraction, undermining his effectiveness as he returned home to face restive Americans who strongly disapprove of his performance on issues that matter most to them.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gets a kiss from her husband Dr. Patrick Jackson, at the conclusion of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)

The American Bar Association’s standing committee on the federal judiciary has afforded its highest rating, “well qualified,” to the Harvard-educated Jackson. A junior high school friend gushed over the “supernova” debate team champion. Skeptics, including Alabama’s attorney general, warned that her views on crime and policing are “outside the mainstream.”

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)

Jackson appeared for a third day before the Senate Judiciary Committee for tense confirmation hearings, providing a vivid portrait of the nation’s promise, but also its enduring racial challenges.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 21, 2022. (CNN)

Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson began with opening statements from both sides of the aisle, and from Jackson herself, who alluded to the historic nature of her nomination.

(skeeze / Pixabay)

The Senate Judiciary Committee that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin chairs begins a series of hearings Monday into President Joe Biden’s nominee for the high court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a U.S. Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, poses for a portrait, Friday, Feb., 18, 2022, in her office at the court in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)
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President Joe Biden’s nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court has launched what Democrats hope will be a quick, bipartisan confirmation process for the court’s first Black woman.