After a summer of political discord and dysfunction in the other two branches of government, the grown-ups in town-the nine robed justices of the U.S. Supreme Court-returned to the bench Monday.

But even as they got ready last week in private conferences, it became clearer than ever that before too long, the court will become entangled in one of the disputes that first soured the mood of the nation’s capital: the fight over President Barack Obama’s health care reform legislation.