Important cases among 17 disputes left to be decided by Supreme Court

Highlights of some high-profile Supreme Court cases, among the 17 that remain to be decided before the court begins its summer recess, probably in late June:

_Gun rights, and the fate of a handgun ban in Washington, D.C. The court is undertaking the first comprehensive review of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment rights in U.S. history, and it will decide whether individuals have a right to own guns or whether that right is linked to service in a militia.

_Death penalty for raping a child. A man on death row for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter is challenging a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for the crime, even when it does not include the death of the victim. The last execution for a crime that did not also include murder was more than 40 years ago and the court outlawed the death penalty for raping an adult woman in 1977.

_Punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Exxon Mobil Corp. is fighting a $2.5 billion judgment for the environmental disaster in Alaska 19 years ago that ensued after the supertanker ran aground on a reef.