​The justices begin a new term today with just 40 cases to work through—their thinnest docket in memory. The court has been missing a justice since Antonin Scalia’s death in February, and the Senate hasn’t budged on Barack Obama’s choice of Merrick Garland to replace him. Stuck with eight, the justices have steered clear of controversies, but several cases they took on before Scalia’s death may now be headed for a 4-4 split. One asks whether a programme supplying playgrounds for secular (but not church) schools violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty. An incompetent lawyering case should be less fraught. A black inmate—sent to death row after a witness called by his own lawyer said the defendant’s race made him violent—wants an appeal. He’ll probably get one. Less clear is when the justices will greet a colleague to fill the empty chair.