The Supreme Court's decision to add immigration to its already robust list of politically charged cases means a raft of rulings in the late spring or early summer that could inject the court into the presidential campaign.
 
Cases involving abortion, affirmative action, labor unions and the Obama health care law have already given the high court's term a campaign-season flavor.

A ruling on President Barack Obama's authority to shield up to 5 million immigrants who are living in the United States illegally from deportation is expected to be one of the last cases argued in April and decided before the justices leave town in early summer.

The most politically contentious rulings probably will come in quick succession in the last half of June, as Democrats and Republicans ready for their political conventions.

The outcomes could feed campaign rhetoric that already has been heated on abortion and immigration, to name just two issues.

Adding to the potential for the court to be an issue in the campaign are the ages of the four oldest justices, three of whom will be past their 80th birthday when the next president takes office a year from now. A fourth, Justice Stephen Breyer, will be 78.