No marriage decision today

Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply-divided Supreme Court on Monday made it more difficult for Americans to sue businesses for discrimination and retaliation, leading a justice to call for Congress to overturn the court's actions.

The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a coworker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits, saying victims must prove employers would not have taken action against them but for their intention to retaliate.

In other actions, the court:

— Sent a Texas case on race-based college admissions back to a lower court for another look. The court's 7-1 decision leaves unsettled many of the basic questions about the continued use of race as a factor in college admissions.

— Announced that it would issue additional opinions on Tuesday as it begins to wrap up its work for the summer. Justices still have not decided major cases involving gay marriage and the Voting Rights Act.

— Decided to reconsider the constitutionality of a 2007 Massachusetts law that bars protests in 35-foot "buffer zones" around abortion clinic entrances, exits and driveways.

— Agreed to review a federal appeals court decision that found President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate last year to appoint three members of the National Labor Relations Board.

— Rejected challenges to Environmental Protection Agency decisions allowing an increase in ethanol content in gasoline.

— Ruled generic drug manufacturers can't be sued in state court for a drug's design defects if federal officials approved the brand-name version the generic drug copied.

— Ruled that a convicted military sex offender who completed his sentence can be prosecuted for not updating his whereabouts in a federal sex offender database, even though that law was passed after he finished serving his sentence and was discharged from the military.

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The cases are Vance v. Ball State University, 11-556 and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, 12-484.

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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.