Supreme Court

Supreme Court refuses to reinstate Missouri Second Amendment law

The Supreme Court on Friday refused a request by Missouri to reinstate a state law that bars police officers from enforcing federal restrictions on the sale and ownership of firearms that the state believes violate the Second Amendment. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that the state law is itself unconstitutional and blocked the state from enforcing the law. In an unsigned order on Friday, the justices left that decision in place while the state’s appeal continues in … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices allow federal government continued communication over social media content moderation

The Supreme Court on Friday granted a request from the Biden administration to temporarily block a lower court’s order that would limit the ability of government officials to communicate with social media companies about their content moderation policies. The Biden administration contends that it has sought only to “mitigate the hazards of online misinformation” by flagging content that violated the social media platforms’ own policies. But two states and several individuals whose social media posts were removed or downgraded … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Wednesday, October 18

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

The Supreme Court’s very brief, very revealing new decision about guns, explained (Ian Millhiser, Vox)
Amy Coney Barrett says she supports an ethics code for Supreme Court justices (Joe Hernandez, NPR)
And We’re Off to the Races (Adam Feldman, Empirical SCOTUS)
Is the Fifth Circuit Becoming the New Ninth? (Jonathan Adler, The Volokh Conspiracy)

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices again side with Biden on ghost guns

Less than three months after allowing the Biden administration to temporarily reinstate a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulating “ghost guns,” the Supreme Court blocked a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that would have prevented the government from enforcing the rule against two manufacturers of gun parts. Appealing to the justices to act, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar had urged the court not to “tolerate such circumvention of its orders.”

Ghost guns … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices grant four new cases, including Chevron companion case

The Supreme Court has added a second case asking it to overrule its landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council to its docket for the 2023-24 term. The announcement came on a list of orders released on Friday afternoon from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day. The court will hear oral argument in both Relentless v. Department of Commerce, the case granted on Friday, and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which it agreed in … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Purdue Pharma, tax cases headline December argument session

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Dec. 4 in the challenge to the legality of the bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin. The argument in the Purdue Pharma case is one of eight cases scheduled for seven hours of oral argument in the court’s December argument calendar, which was released on Thursday morning.

The justices had indicated in August that the Purdue Pharma case would be slated for argument … Read the rest

Supreme Court

A Scalia argument, then a yacht excursion

It’s the second week of the new term, with two otherwise garden-variety cases set for argument on Tuesday, but with each having some noteworthy highlights.

Meanwhile, this is the third week of the new season of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s favorite TV show, “Survivor.” She raved about the CBS show during a commencement address to American University’s law school last spring, so much so that when another CBS show, “The Price is Right at Night” had an episode last … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Washington residents challenge state’s effort to tax long-term capital gains

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

The Constitution constrains states from excessively burdening out-of-state commerce – a doctrine known as the dormant commerce clause, because it is implicit in the grant of power to Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Five years ago, a divided Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. Wayfair that, under the doctrine, … Read the rest