WASHINGTON (AP) — A split Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to a state ban on assault weapons, semiautomatic rifles that are popular among gun owners and that have also been used in multiple mass shootings.

The case from Maryland was the court’s latest opportunity to apply its recently announced history-based test for assessing the constitutionality of gun control laws.

The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday to ask the justices to reverse a lower court order that has blocked mass firings and major reorganizations at federal agencies, a case that could have enormous implications for the president’s power to reshape the federal government.

Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to halt a judicial order blocking mass job cuts and the restructuring of agencies, part of the Republican president's campaign to downsize and reshape the federal government.

President Donald Trump’s administration has renewed its request for the Supreme Court to clear the way for plans to downsize the federal workforce, while a lawsuit filed by labor unions and cities pro