On the first Monday of each October, the U.S. Supreme Court begins a new session. Between October and July, it rules on 80 to 100 cases, and, in the process, creates and refines a body of case law. Some decisions will go unnoticed; others will please, anger, or activate Congress and the president, interest groups, the media, and the public. The Supreme Court's mission has remained the same: to interpret the meaning of the Constitution and determine the constitutionality of the laws that govern our land.