On the First Monday in October, Don't Forget to Turn Back Your Clock 100 Years

Former constitutional history professors like us are always interested in the cases appearing before the Supreme Court, whose new term begins on Monday. Adam Liptak, succeeding the retiring Linda Greenhouse as the New York Times's SCOTUS correspondent, gets in perhaps the funniest line we've read in a Times legal article in his Sunday roundup of the "lighter fare" on the Court's docket this year:

Federal courts in California have issued injunctions limiting the use of sonar in Navy training exercises off Southern California on the ground that it harms marine mammals. In Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, No. 07-1239, the Bush administration argues that the training is vital to national security and that the courts should not interfere.

In Summers v. Earth Island Institute, No. 07-463, the court will consider who has standing to challenge environmental regulations. Winter and Summers will be argued on Wednesday, and decisions are expected by the spring.