ADAM LIPTAK

Outflanked by five impatient and ambitious justices to his right, the chief justice has become powerless to pursue his incremental approach.

The decision, based on a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment, will make it harder for states and localities to restrict guns outside the home.

The decision was the latest in a series of rulings forbidding the exclusion of religious institutions from government programs.

According to the conventional wisdom, the court rarely strays too far from the popular will. That view will face a reckoning in the coming weeks.

A state law required mailed ballots to be accompanied by a signed and dated declaration, but a federal appeals court ruled that undated declarations sufficed.

The law, prompted by conservative complaints about censorship, prohibits big technology companies like Facebook and Twitter from removing posts based on the views they express.

Jonathan F. Mitchell, who helped draft Texas’ six-week abortion ban, has turned his attention to Harvard’s race-conscious admissions program.