US top court term two new members, major rulings

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) The US Supreme Court's just-ended term saw dramatic changes, with two new conservative jurists picked by President George W Bush, and major rulings that rejected Bush's policies on Guantanamo military tribunals and doctor-assisted suicide.

For the first time in more than 11 years, the court's composition changed, with Bush appointing John Roberts to succeed the late William Rehnquist as chief justice and Samuel Alito to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired.

''Americans' rights and liberties are already less secure after just one year of the Roberts court,'' said Ralph Neas of the liberal lobbying group People For the American Way Foundation.

He cited 5-4 rulings that said free-speech rights do not protect government whistle-blowers, that allowed evidence when police enter a suspect's home illegally by failing to knock and announce their presence, and that limited the clean water law's scope.

Legal experts said it is too early to say what influence Roberts and Alito, who both had solid conservative voting records in the 2005-06 term, will ultimately have.

They said Justice Anthony Kennedy assumed a position of power at the center of the court, a role previously played by O'Connor. He often cast the decisive vote on a court split with four conservatives and four liberal justices.

KENNEDY HOLDS BALANCE OF POWER ''Justice Kennedy now holds the balance of power on a closely divided court,'' said Steven Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union. He said Kennedy's vote may be more important on critical issues than those of Alito and Roberts.

Kennedy wrote the ruling that the Bush administration overstepped its authority when it barred doctors from helping terminally ill patients die in Oregon, the nation's only state that allows physician-assisted suicide.

He joined the four liberals in the 5-3 ruling that struck down as illegal the military tribunals created by Bush to try Guantanamo prisoners captured in his war on terrorism.

Kennedy crafted the ruling allowing states to redraw congressional district boundaries in the middle of the decade for political gain and his opinion controlled a major environmental ruling for a splintered court.

He wrote rulings that death row inmates can challenge the lethal injection method of execution and can get new hearings when DNA or other evidence later casts doubt on their guilt.

Although Roberts said at his confirmation hearings that he wanted to bring more unanimity to the court, the justices remained deeply divided on criminal law cases on police practices and the death penalty, the experts said.

''The court revealed through a number of rulings in capital cases that it is still deeply divided over whether and how it should be actively involved in the regulation of capital punishment,'' said Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University.

In cases pitting police powers against privacy rights, the court often upheld the searches.

Roberts wrote rulings that bolstered police power to enter a house to break up a fight and that allowed statements given to the police by arrested foreigners, even when they have not been told of their right to contact their consulate.

The justices adjourned for their traditional three-month summer recess and will return to the bench in October for a new term.

That term could be a blockbuster. The court already has on its docket hot-button social issues on abortion and whether race can be used as a factor to decide which students can be admitted to specific public schools.

REUTERS SHB KN0859