WASHINGTON, US (AFP) - The US Supreme Court will rule next year on a new constitutional challenge over gun rights, reviving debate over one of America's most divisive issues, and examine a law banning "material support to terrorism" groups.

The cases will be taken up beginning January 2010 and rulings are expected to be handed down in the spring, the Supreme Court announced Wednesday.

The nine-member high court, which begins its fresh term Monday with new justice Sonia Sotomayor, will also delve into whether a former Somali official blamed for torture in his country can be sued under a 220-year-old US law that allows damages for wrongdoing committed in foreign countries.

The court has not said whether it will consider two other crucial issues: the possibility of release of Guantanamo detainees on US soil, and the publication of photos showing abuse of detainees by US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As one of the most widely used legal weapons in the United States anti-terrorism battle, having played a role in dozens of convictions, the "material support" law provides for sentences of up to life in prison.

But it has been repeatedly challenged in court, notably for provisions which criminalize support - including humanitarian aid - to any foreign entity that the US government has designated as a "terrorist" group.

The case addresses the constitutionality of such support, including "training," "expertise" and "service" which have been at the heart of the debate over the law.

"In light of the government's current fervor to use the label of terrorism as a brand for groups and organizations that are not towing the line on US foreign policy, this challenge to the criminalization of what have long been understood to be constitutionally protected activities is vitally important," the not-for-profit Center for Constitutional Rights said in an overview of the case.

The court will also revisit the Second Amendment right to bear arms, after having affirmed the constitutional right for Americans to own weapons, including hand guns, for self-defense in a five-to-four ruling in June 2008.

Since then, cities like Chicago and Washington, which had totally banned such weapons, have resisted the ruling, arguing that the Supreme Court had not clearly ruled that the principle applied to local laws and states.

The appeal was filed by gun rights activist groups against Chicago seeking to overturn the handgun ban and other gun registration elements which the groups say have impeded gun ownership.

The justices will also rule on whether five survivors of atrocities in Somalia can initiate legal proceedings against Mohammed Ali Samantar, Somalia's former prime minister now living in the US state of Virginia, whom they blame for torture and killings under the authoritarian regime of Siad Barre in 1980s and 1990s Somalia.

In an earlier trial, a lower court dismissed the complaint, arguing that the Alien Tort Statute of 1789 applies to governments and not foreign officials.

That ruling was overturned by an appeals court, whose ruling will now be examined by the Supreme Court.