( CNN ) -- Affirmative action . Voting rights . Same-sex marriage . The Supreme Court is about to rule on some of the most contentious issues in American society -- issues that have divided Americans for years . `` These are critical decisions , '' said Ron Brownstein , a CNN political analyst . They affect `` the future of our social relations , our workplace , our educational opportunity . '' The rulings could come as early as Monday . At the latest , they 're expected by the end of the month . Learn about the big cases . The big cases include : . Affirmative action . The case : Student Abigail Fisher sued the University of Texas , saying she was rejected partly because she is white . The school defended its policy of considering race as one of many factors . See selected quotes from the arguments here . The Defense of Marriage Act . The case : The key plaintiff , Edith Windsor , sued the federal government after the death of her longtime female partner , saying she faced an estate bill much larger than those heterosexual married partners have to pay . Windsor married Thea Clara Spyer in 2007 in Toronto . By the time Spyer died in 2009 , New York , where they lived , recognized that marriage . Under DOMA , the federal government does not . California 's Proposition 8 . The case : California , through Proposition 8 on a statewide ballot , banned same-sex marriage . A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that unconstitutional . Now , the Supreme Court 's nine justices could fundamentally alter how American law treats marriage . The Voting Rights Act . The case : The 1965 law gives federal authorities open-ended oversight of states and localities that have a history of voter discrimination . After the provision was reauthorized by Congress in 2006 for another 25 years , counties in Alabama and North Carolina filed suit , saying the monitoring was burdensome and unwarranted .
The Supreme Court will rule on several critical cases . Decisions on affirmative action , voting rights and same-sex marriage are due . They could come as early as Monday or as late as the end of the month .