Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Jun 7, 2021 8 tweets 5 min read Read on X
It bears repeating that Judge Benitez's ruling against California's assault weapon ban promotes the anti-vax lie that COVID vaccines are killing many people—while falsely trivializing mass shootings with an AR-15 as "infinitesimally rare." d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicy…
The portion of Benitez's opinion blithely trivializing the unique trauma of gunshot wounds from assault weapons is particularly nauseating.
nymag.com/intelligencer/…
Note, too, Benitez's contradictory conclusion: Mass shootings with assault weapons are "infinitesimally rare" in California, yet California's assault weapons ban is a "failed experiment which does not achieve its objectives of preventing mass shootings." d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicy…
Then there is this perverse section, in which Benitez scolds California for maintaining its assault weapons ban when large-capacity magazine bans are allegedly more effective.

California passed a large-capacity magazine ban, and Benitez blocked it.
slate.com/news-and-polit…
Benitez rejects California's extensive evidence that assault weapons are unnecessary for home defense, claiming it "fails the scientific method," then drops completely unsupported conjectures like this one to support his own conclusion. d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicy…
Benitez insists that "citizen militias are not irrelevant," citing the experiences of ... Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and the Taliban. d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicy…
Doing some bizarre back-of-the-envelope math, Benitez calculates that "7,700 women may not have been raped" if they had "been armed with an assault weapon" from just 2003 to 2007. d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicy…
I keep coming back to this appalling trivialization of mass shootings—Benitez seriously questions whether innocent civilians getting slaughtered with an assault weapon constitutes "real harm" for constitutional purposes. d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicy…

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More from @mjs_DC

Jul 2
NEW: The Supreme Court sends a whopping EIGHT Second Amendment cases back to the lower courts for reconsideration in light of its decision in Rahimi.

Much more in today's giant orders list: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
The Supreme Court also sends NINE Chevron cases back down to the lower courts for reconsideration in light of Loper Bright. The disruption officially begins: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
The Supreme Court vacates an 8th Circuit decision that had granted North Dakota lawmakers a "legislative privilege" from discovery in an important Native redistricting case, agreeing with the plaintiffs that the dispute has become moot. (KBJ dissents.) supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
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Read 12 tweets
Jul 1
🚨The Supreme Court rules that President Trump has "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution for all "official acts" he took while in office. The vote is 6–3 with all three liberals dissenting. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
Sotomayor, dissenting: Today's decision shields presidents from prosecution "for criminal and treasonous acts" and "makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law." supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
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Sotomayor, joined by Kagan and Jackson, closes: "With fear for our democracy, I dissent." supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
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Read 6 tweets
Jul 1
The Supreme Court's second decision is NetChoice. Justice Kagan's complicated opinion for the court remands both cases to the appeals courts for the proper analysis of a First Amendment facial challenge, which, she says, they flunked the first time. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
HOWEVER: Kagan's opinion for the court holds that content moderation IS "expressively activity" and that social media platforms ARE protected by the First Amendment, no matter their size, from state intrusion. That's a major holding. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
Kagan says social media platforms engage in protected speech when moderating content posted by third parties, and Texas' alleged interest in interfering with that practice amounts to the "suppression of free expression, and it is not valid" under the First Amendment.
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Read 4 tweets
Jul 1
The Supreme Court's first decision is Corner Post. By a 6–3 vote, the majority allows plaintiffs to challenge an agency action LONG after it has been finalized. All three liberals dissent. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
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This article explains why today's outcome in Corner Post will be so destabilizing to the administrative state—it means that agency actions are never really safe from legal assault, even decades after they're finalized. It's a really big deal. americanprogress.org/article/corner…
In her dissent, Justice Jackson urges Congress to enact a new law to "forestall the coming chaos" created by today's decision, reimposing the statute of limitations that had, until now, prevented new plaintiffs from endlessly challenging regulations. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
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Read 7 tweets
Jun 28
🚨The Supreme Court overrules Chevron deference, wiping out 40 years of precedent that required federal courts to defer to expert opinions of federal agencies. All three liberals dissent. This is a HUGE decision. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
The Supreme Court's reversal of Chevron constitutes a major transfer of power from the executive branch to the judiciary, stripping federal agencies of significant discretion to interpret and enforce ambiguous regulations. Hard to overstate the impact of this seismic shift.
Today's ruling is a massive blow to the "administrative state," the collection of federal agencies that enforce laws involving the environment, food and drug safety, workers' rights, education, civil liberties, energy policy—the list is nearly endless. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
Read 6 tweets
Jun 28
The Supreme Court's first decision is Grants Pass. By a 6–3 vote, the court holds that penalizing homeless people for sleeping outside when there is no available shelter does NOT violate the 8th Amendment. All three liberals dissent. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
The Supreme Court's decision in Grants Pass wipes out significant precedent in the 9th Circuit that had protected homeless people from punishment when they slept outside due to lack of shelter. Per Gorsuch, the court holds that penalizing such people is not "cruel and unusual."
In dissent, Sotomayor says punishing people who sleep outside for lack of other options—through both civil penalties and jail time—is "unconscionable and unconstitutional," and faults the majority for spurning the "humanity and dignity of homeless people." supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
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Read 5 tweets

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