By Andrew Chung (Reuters) -Even as an uproar over files relating to Jeffrey Epstein engulfs President Donald Trump and Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court is due to wade into the controversy and decide whether to hear a bid by an associate of the late financier and convicted sex offender to overturn her criminal conviction.

The justices paused a lower court order pending a decision on whether the Supreme Court will take up the case, a major challenge to the Voting Rights Act.

Former county clerk Kim Davis has asked a second time for the Supreme Court to take her case, with anti-LGBTQ+ advocates hoping it could be the one to lead the justices to overturn marriage equality.

A new poll shows Americans’ views of the Supreme Court have moderated somewhat since the court’s standing dropped sharply after its ruling overturning Roe v.

In remarks before judges and lawyers in California, the justice said she believed the court had a responsibility to share its reasoning.

Justice Elena Kagan addressed the rise in threats against judges, and urged them to "not be inhibited" as they go about their work.

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a lower-court ruling in a redistricting dispute in North Dakota that would gut a landmark federal civil rights law for millions of people. The justices indicated in an unsigned order that they are likely to take up a federal appeals court ruling that would eliminate the most common path people and civil rights groups use to sue under a key provision of the 60-year-old Voting Rights Act.