Monday, the Supreme Court began a session that many legal scholars and historians see as likely to be pivotal in defining the Rehnquist Court's place in high court history. The court has chosen to hear arguments on a number of key issues this term, including public funding of parochial schools, campaign finance reform, tobacco regulation, racial criteria in state elections, abortion protesters's free speech rights, federal legislation giving rape victims the standing to sue perpetrators, and patients's rights to sue their HMOs. At stake overall is how far the Rehnquist court will go in its pursuit of Federalism, the philosophy that emphasizes states's rights in the face of expanding federal power. Past rulings establishing the Rehnquist's court Federalist view of the Constitution have often been a 5-4 split, and given the fragile health of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the likelihood, considering the age of some of the justices, of at least one appointment by the next President, this term could well be a defining one for the Rehnquist court.