This month, the court will decide three more direct challenges to Obama's policies in which Alito's vote will be key. The justices will rule on whether the president exceeded his authority in making recess appointments and whether his environmental regulators went too far by requiring permits for new power plants to show they are reducing greenhouse gases. And in the most far-reaching case, the high court will decide whether business owners have a religious-freedom right to refuse to pay for contraceptives for female employees, as required under the president's healthcare law. With Alito, the court has become a check on the White House, much like then-Sen. Obama called for in 2006 when he joined an unsuccessful filibuster against Alito's confirmation. "We need a court that is independent," Obama said — one that "is going to provide some check on the executive branch."
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