The Supreme Court begins its new term with an exceptionally dense docket, where election disputes, partisan gerrymandering cases and questions of federal power all converge.
The court has not wasted the summer recess. A string of fast-tracked requests on election-related disputes has already been resolved, and more emergency applications are expected before the term is done.
Away from the courthouse, a parallel contest is gathering pace — the effort to place fission reactors on the Moon. Multiple national programmes are racing to establish the first nuclear power system off Earth, a contest with obvious implications for both industry and defence.