Neil M. Gorsuch joins the Supreme Court just in time to cast potentially significant votes in cases that pit religious liberty against gay rights, test limits on funding for church schools and challenge California s restrictions on carrying a concealed gun in public.Such issues arise either in appeals filed by conservative groups that have been pending before the justices for weeks or in cases to be heard later this month.Gorsuch s votes in those matters may give an early sign of whether the court s conservatives   with their 5-4 majority restored by his confirmation   will pursue an activist agenda.The cases include a Colorado baker s claim that he deserves a faith-based exemption from the state s anti-discrimination law after he refused to design a wedding cake for a gay couple. The justices have been considering his appeal behind closed doors since December, but have taken no action.  LA TimesA Second Amendment controversy arising from California, would be the biggest gun-rights decision in several years, should the justices agree to hear it.In D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, the Court ruled that the Constitution protects the right to keep functional firearms in the home for self-defense, and that state and local governments cannot infringe upon said right. The challenge now pending before the Court, Peruta v. California, involves the right to carry a firearm outside the home for self-defense.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in 2016 affording county governments in California significant leeway in the issuance of concealed carry permits. Some permit regimes in the state are fairly accommodating of applicants, while others make it functionally impossible to obtain a concealed carry license. A group of Second Amendment applicants challenged the 9th Circuit s decision.Should the justices take the case and side with the activists, they could announce a constitutionally-protected right to bear firearms outside the home for the first time in American history.Via: Daily Caller