President Donald Trump has faced several setbacks from federal courts, which have blocked or paused some of his most controversial plans since taking office.

The Supreme Court is being thrust into the middle of two cases carrying enormous political and legal implications just weeks before the first votes in in the Iowa caucuses.

The ruling sends a challenge by James L. Kisor, a Vietnam War veteran who was involved with a dispute with the Department of Veterans Affairs, back to a lower court for further review. Writing for five of the nine justices, Justice Elena Kagan narrowed the circumstances in which courts will defer to an agency's interpretation of ambiguous language in its own regulations. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment outlining those markers. Hughes noted that the lower court had applied a "reflexive form of deference" to the agency that was not warranted. Four would have the lower courts resolve the issue without any deference to the VA," he said.