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Hey, good morning. It's Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels. It is Monday, October 7th. Here is what's driving the day.

First up, it is the beginning of the Supreme Court's term. We are 29 days until Election Day.

And there's one question on everybody's mind,

as our colleague Josh Gersstein writes this morning, will the justices once again find themselves in the middle of the presidential race? As he lays it out this morning, before the election,

the High Court could be called to resolve emergency disputes over ballot access measures or vote counting rules.

After the election, any challenge to the outcome would likely end up at the High Court.

Either scenario could transform a term that so far seems pretty sleepy into another politically explosive chapter for the court,

which is controlled by a 6'3 conservative majority, something to keep your eyes on for the court, which is controlled by a six-three

conservative majority, something to keep your eyes on for the next month, at least.

As you know, it's October 7th, which means it has been exactly one year since the Hamas

attack on Israel. What has ensued since has made a tinderbox even worse. Thousands of Israelis dead,

tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, and a war in the Middle East on multiple fronts.

And here with me now to chat more about that. With his first experience on the pod is our national

security reporter,

Robbie Grammer, Robbie. Hello. Hey, thanks for having me. Thank you so much for coming on,

this terrifying, momentous day that we had to have one of you guys on. So we're glad you guys

made the time. I guess first question, let's zoom out. It's been a year since the Hamas terrorist

attacks on Israel. A lot has changed there, a place that had been a

tenderbox for a very long time. It feels even scarier, I think, for people who pay a lot of attention and also only kind of pop in and out.

And so I guess, you know, talk to people about what, a year out, what, how different is the Middle East right now because of this?

Well, it's clear this crisis has dramatically reshaped the Middle East, and we don't actually know what the long-term effects of that is.

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