Gorsuch begins first day at Supreme Court

Justice Neil Gorsuch's introduction to his new job begins Thursday when the Supreme Court gathers in conference ahead of next week's oral arguments.

The justices gather behind closed doors without staff to vote on cases under review and decide whether to hear other cases. Four justices must agree to take a case for it to proceed to the high court.

Gorsuch's presence will be felt immediately Thursday, when the court will decide whether to tackle two cases involving First Amendment rights and police-involved shootings.

The court will consider whether to hear arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a case involving a cake artist who refused to design a cake for a same-sex marriage. The fight is over whether Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act violates the artist's religious beliefs and therefore violates his First Amendment rights. The high court has relisted the case numerous times for consideration, but may not do so again now that the Supreme Court has a full bench of nine justices.

The high court also will decide whether to hear Salazar-Limon v. City of Houston, a case dealing with a police officer who shot Ricardo Salazar-Limon, who was unarmed, in the back. The dispute involves the question of whether a court may rule for the officer in a suit about excessive force simply by relying on the officer's testimony that Salazar-Limon was reaching for his waistband when he said he was just walking away.