Supreme Court
State Reactions to the SCOTUS Ruling Against Discretionary Carry-Permit Laws Range From Compliance to Defiance
Some states promptly eliminated subjective standards, while others refused to recognize the decision's implications.
The Clarence Thomas Court Is Good News for Gun Rights, Bad News for Criminal Justice Reform
Like it or not, the Thomas Court is here.
How Would You Change the Constitution?
I asked scholars, podcasters, and passersby how they'd change the nation's founding charter. Here's what they told me.
After a SCOTUS Rebuke, New York Imposes Oppressive New Restrictions on the Right To Bear Arms
"I don't need to have numbers," Gov. Kathy Hochul said when asked about the evidence supporting the law.
Is America Heading for a National Divorce?
Plus: A listener asks about Supreme Court legitimacy, and the editors practice "libertarian Festivus."
George Washington University Officials Defend Clarence Thomas' Free Expression Rights
The university's own students are often not so lucky.
How the Conservative Supreme Court Is Changing America
Leading libertarian legal scholar Randy Barnett talks about abortion, gun rights, and worrying trends at the highest court in the land.
SCOTUS Vacates 4 Decisions Upholding Gun Control Laws Whose Constitutionality Now Looks Doubtful
The Court told appeals courts to reconsider their conclusions in light of last week's ruling against New York's restrictions on public possession of firearms.
Justice Kagan Throws Down the Gauntlet: We Are Not "All Textualists Now"
In her forceful West Virginia v. EPA dissent, Justice Kagan challenges the majority's commitment to textualism.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown: Abortion Prohibition, Mail-Order Pills, and Post-Roe Politics
The Reason senior editor and co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty examines a murky post-Roe future.
SCOTUS Said Ambitious Climate Regulations Need To Come From Congress. Lawmakers Are Furious.
Plus: A new lawsuit challenges D.C.'s ban on carrying guns on public transit, Denver's latest housing affordability initiative will make the city more expensive, and more...
Without Roe v. Wade, Litigants Look to State Constitutions for Protection of Abortion Rights
Several state supreme courts already have recognized the right to terminate a pregnancy. Will more states join the list?
Supreme Court Limits EPA's Ability To Impose Costly Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts
Any future regulations will require clear authorization from Congress.
Supreme Court Gives Biden Administration a (Temporary?) Win on Immigration with Final Decision of Term
Chief Justice Roberts final opinion of the term rejects the statutory challenge to the Biden Administration's rescission of the "Remain in Mexico" policy.
Biden Can End 'Remain in Mexico' Border Policy, Says SCOTUS
Scrapping the policy is an important step in restoring a fair asylum-seeking process.
Supreme Court Rejects Broad EPA Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases from Power Plants (Updated)
Chief Justice Roberts writes for a six-justice majority in West Virginia v. EPA.
Randy Barnett: Abortion, Guns, and the Future of the Supreme Court
The leading libertarian legal theorist talks about worrying trends at the Supreme Court as a conservative majority takes hold.
Justice Breyer's Final(?) Majority Opinion Is A Win For Federal Power
Justice Breyer consistently resisted conservative efforts to constrain federal power, so his opinion in Torres is a fitting swan song.
Ketanji Brown Jackson To Become 104th Associate Justice Thursday At Noon
The Supreme Court announces when Judge Jackson will become Justice Jackson.
Abortion Rights Under the 9th and 14th Amendments
Understanding what Justice Alito got wrong in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Alabama Draws on Supreme Court's New Abortion Decision To Justify Trans Youth Treatment Ban
Alabama's attorney general argues such medical transitioning is not rooted in America’s history and therefore not constitutionally protected.
Stephen Breyer Officially Retires Tomorrow, Opening a Seat for Ketanji Brown Jackson
“My retirement from active service,” Breyer told the president, “will be effective on Thursday, June 30, 2022, at noon.”
Final Supreme Court Opinions Tomorrow, Followed by Justice Breyer's Retirement at Noon
There are only two argued cases left for decision -- the last two to be decided with Justice Breyer on the Court.
Maximalists Threaten a Federalist Compromise on Abortion
National legislation and extraterritorial application of state laws are inconsistent with the local leeway that the Constitution protects.
Alito's Junk History About Lochner
The conservative Supreme Court justice is wrong about economic liberty and the Constitution.
SCOTUS Rules That Doctors Who Write Prescriptions in Good Faith Can't Be Convicted of Drug Trafficking
The unanimous decision will rein in prosecutions that have long had a chilling effect on pain treatment.
The Supreme Court's Dobbs Decision Threatens Assisted Reproduction
IVF at "significant risk"
Supreme Court Says High School Coach's Postgame Prayers Are Protected Free Speech
A 6–3 majority sees it as noncoercive and not a violation of the Establishment Clause.
Justice Thomas (Still) Wants Supreme Court to Revisit "Actual Malice"
Justice Thomas reiterates his desire to revisit the contours of defamation law and New York Times v. Sullivan.
My Deseret News Article on Carson v. Makin
The article explains why the Supreme Court was right to hold that state voucher programs can’t discriminate against “sectarian” religious schools and addresses various objections.
Enforcing Abortion Bans Is Much Harder Than Winning in Court
There’s no painless way to restrict choices for people who resist.
Obamacare and SCOTUS, 10 Years Later
Even Obamacare's fiercest advocates say it has not lived up to its goals.
John Roberts and the Path SCOTUS Did Not Take on Abortion
Although the chief justice's incrementalism did not sway his colleagues, his observations about the meaning of a "right to choose" could be relevant in state legislatures.
Dobbs Won't End the Legal Battle Over Abortion
Liberals won't reconcile themselves to Dobbs, any more than conservatives accepted Roe v. Wade and Casey.
On Justice Thomas, Dobbs, Precedent, and Substantive Due Process
In his Dobbs concurrence, the senior associate justice reiterates his outlying views on precedent and his belief that all substantive due process decisions were "demonstrably erroneous."
Dobbs, Abortion, and Stare Decisis
Both majority and dissenting opinions include extensive discussions of stare decisis. But the truth is whether you think Roe v. Wade should have been preserved on that basis is heavily correlated with whether you think it was wrong in the first place.
Outside the Supreme Court, Our First Glimpse of Post-Roe Politics
A weird, messy protest reflects a weird, messy future.
SCOTUS Rejects 'Interest-Balancing' Tests That Treated the Second Amendment As a 'Constitutional Orphan'
The ruling against New York's carry permit policy is a rebuke to courts that routinely rubber-stamp gun restrictions.
Clarence Thomas Calls To 'Reconsider' Gay Marriage, Sodomy Rulings
The other justices declined to join him, but the future of the Supreme Court rulings on those matters remains unclear.
States Can't Ban Out-of-State Travel To Get Abortions, Writes Kavanaugh
He also nixes the idea that states could "retroactively impose liability or punishment for an abortion that occurred before today's decision takes effect."
Alito's Abortion Ruling Overturning Roe Is an Insult to the 9th Amendment
The Constitution protects many more rights than it mentions, as James Madison explained.
Here Is a State-by-State Rundown of What Will Happen Now That SCOTUS Has Freed Lawmakers To Restrict Abortion
Most states are unlikely to enact bans, but 22 either have them already or probably will soon.
The Online Freakout Over Yesterday's Supreme Court Decisions
Plus: Abortion and free speech, Juul fights back, and more...
'The Second Amendment Is Not Unlimited,' Brett Kavanaugh Stresses in SCOTUS Gun Case
“Properly interpreted, the Second Amendment allows a ‘variety’ of gun regulations,” Kavanaugh writes, invoking Antonin Scalia
SCOTUS Says You Can't Sue the Cops for Violating Your Miranda Rights
A 6–3 ruling undermines attempts to hold police accountable for misconduct.
