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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court opens for business Monday in what aptly could be called a tale of two terms: the cases already on the docket, and the potentially historic ones to come.
When the justices begin the 2014 term after Sunday's annual Red Mass, held to invoke God's blessings on the judiciary, their first case will focus on the number of working tail lights needed to navigate North Carolina. As the weeks and months pass, their attention will turn to Facebook, fish and facial hair.
But not far from their minds will be the proverbial elephant in the courtroom: same-sex marriage. Before the term is out, the justices almost surely will decide its constitutionality, perhaps changing forever the definition of the American family.
"However slow the term is starting, it could obviously explode," said Steven Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
By far the biggest explosion would be a ruling on whether 31 states may continue to ban gay marriage. Since the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last year that the federal government must recognize such marriages, now legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, nearly every federal and state court has ruled such bans unconstitutional.
Now the issue is back at the court's doorstep in the form of appeals court opinions that struck down gay-marriage bans in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin. The only question: Will the justices wait for a contrary ruling, which is possible soon from the 6th Circuit court of appeals in Ohio or later from the 5th Circuit in Louisiana?
If there still are four justices opposed to same-sex marriage, they almost certainly will vote to hear the issue early next year and issue a verdict by June. Otherwise, bans in 11 states would be struck down by the lower court rulings, and 30 states would have same-sex marriage.








Other potential explosions this term:
•• Contraception: Following the court's Hobby Lobby ruling in June that businesses with religious objections can sidestep the health care law's rule that employers cover contraception, religious non-profits such as charities and universities claim that even signing a form to have the government or private insurers provide coverage violates their rights.
• Abortion: Several states have imposed tough new restrictions on a woman's right to an abortion, such as limiting drug-induced abortions or requiring that providers have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Cases from Arizona and Texas are among those the justices could choose from.
• Affirmative action: For the third year in a row, the court could be faced with deciding how much race can be considered in university admissions. The Texas case would be a repeat of one the court heard in 2012, in which a white student claims the state's flagship university rejected her because of her race.
• Voting rights: The court last month entered the fray over new state restrictions on voting by allowing Ohio to reduce early voting opportunities. Now it faces challenges to Wisconsin's photo ID requirement and North Carolina's more stringent voting rules that also must be addressed before Election Day.