For all the talk of gridlock and dysfunction in Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court stood out this year for some quality work.

It's not an overstatement to say that the liberal wing of the court logged a historic term of victories, helped in no small part by discipline and strategy behind the scenes, plus an assist by perennial swing voter Justice Anthony Kennedy.

That's not to say the court is becoming more progressive. Not at all. The institution remains deeply conservative , and some of the cases that it will be deciding in the next six months were spearheaded by legal strategists with conservative goals in mind.

Without further ado, here are the Supreme Court's high and low moments of 2015: