The Judiciary Committee postponed votes to issue subpoenas for benefactors of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito after Republicans threatened a politically charged fight.
The justices heard arguments about how to interpret part of the law aimed at reducing prison sentences for people convicted of certain nonviolent drug crimes.
For the second summer in a row, Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Elena Kagan sketched out dueling conceptions of their institution’s place in the constitutional structure.