The Supreme Court starts with a bang in the first week of the last sitting of the October 2015 Term.

On Monday the Court will hear 90 minutes of argument in United States v. Texas, the case about the Obama Administration’s program to issue non-enforcement permits and work authorizations to illegal immigrants. (Carrie Severino filed an amicus brief in support of the state of Texas, which you can find here.) Texas is one of the most important cases of the Term since it presents crucial questions about the separation of powers and federalism (as well as the Administrative Procedures Act). It’s the latest major lawsuit in which the federal government has questioned a state’s standing to sue the federal government, so we should expect the Court’s ultimate decision to have significant implications for the ability of state attorneys general to defend their citizens against federal overreach. In addition to the substantive administrative law issues before the court, the Court also requested briefing on the further question of whether the program violates the President’s Article II duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

Tuesday’s cases are more typical fare, with United States v. Bryant and Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar. Bryant involves a Sixth Amendment challenge in which the criminal defendant is challenging the use of a prior misdemeanor conviction (for which he had no right to counsel) to prove a predicate offense which was an element of a separate, subsequent felony conviction. Escobar addresses a circuit split about the “implied certification” theory of False Claims Act falsity.

Wednesday closes the week with arguments in several cases about whether a state can criminalize refusal to take a chemical test for alcohol (a crime frequently charged in suspected drunk driving cases) and a civil case about the scope of coverage for car dealership employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Court will return for arguments next week before it begins releasing the rest of the Term’s opinions.