When the U.S. Supreme Court was preparing for its new term late last summer, it looked like the court would avoid some of the politically fraught issues that had thrust it into the spotlight in recent years.

Aside from one Second Amendment appeal brought by the Biden administration, the most noteworthy cases on the docket in those early days of September involved questions of administrative law that, while incredibly significant in their own right, tend to be of more interest to lawyers than anyone else.