FACTBOX: Gun rights, business cases before US Supreme Court

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court opens its term on Monday, with new Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Following are some of the important cases that will be decided:

LIMITS ON CORPORATE SPENDING IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

* Whether the long-standing limits on corporate spending in U.S. political campaigns violated the free-speech rights of businesses.

The case stemmed from a conservative advocacy group's challenge to a federal campaign finance law as part of its effort to broadcast and promote a movie critical of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign.

The court heard arguments in the case at a special sitting last month, and a ruling is expected by the end of the year.

GUN RIGHTS

* Whether state and local gun restrictions, like a ban on handguns, violate an individual's constitutional right to bear arms. The ruling could clear the way for new challenges to gun control laws across the country.

The justices will decide the reach of its landmark ruling last year that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed an individual right to own guns and use them for lawful purposes like self-defense in the home.

That ruling, which struck down a handgun ban in the nation's capital, applied only to federal laws and federal enclaves like Washington. The court will decide if it extends to state and local laws as well.

JUVENILE JUSTICE

* Whether a sentence of life in prison for juveniles who commit crimes other than murder violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The ruling could affect more than 2,500 people in the United States serving sentences of life imprisonment for crimes committed before they turned 18, human rights groups said.

The two Florida cases the Supreme Court will decide involve a 13-year-old convicted of raping an elderly woman and a 17-year-old who took part in an armed home-invasion robbery while on probation for an earlier violent crime.

ANIMAL TORTURE VIDEOS

* Whether a federal law that makes it a crime to sell videos of animals being tortured or killed violated constitutional free-speech rights.

The U.S. Justice Department defended the 1999 law that Congress adopted in an effort to crack down on videos like those depicting dog fights. It compared animal cruelty to child pornography, which the Supreme Court has said does not qualify for free-speech protection.

SEX OFFENDERS

* Whether Congress may adopt a federal law that keeps sex offenders in custody indefinitely after they complete their prison sentences. Similar state laws have been upheld.

PATENT CASE

* A closely watched patent case, important to the business community, that could tell high-tech and software companies how far they can go in patenting software, financial strategies and other abstract processes. The case has implications for any company that hopes to patent a business method.

ACCOUNTING BOARD

* A constitutional challenge to the 2002 law that created a national board to oversee U.S. public company auditors. The justices will decide a key provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which set up the private sector Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Those challenging the law argued it violated constitutional requirements on separation of powers because it failed to allow adequate control of the board by the U.S. president.

MUTUAL FUND FEES

* Whether a shareholder who claims that a mutual fund's investment adviser charged an excessive fee must also show that the adviser misled the fund's directors who approved the fee.

The case has been watched closely by the nation's mutual fund industry as a number of lawsuits have been brought across the country against companies over mutual fund fees.

(Reporting by James Vicini; Editing by Peter Cooney)