Altio's draft opinion is policy masquerading as constitutional law. At critical points in the argument, Alito abandons legal analysis for pure policy preference. At other points, his argument relies on weak evidence. 1/thread The most obvious resort to policy over constitutional analysis in Alito's opinion is where he tries to assure that overturning Roe will not impact other privacy rights, like interracial marriage. 2

How would Amy Coney Barrett rule on guns? The evidence suggests she has a very expansive view of gun rights, likely even broader than Justice Scalia. She would likely vote to strike down numerous gun laws, incl. red flag laws that have relatively bipartisan support. (Thread) Barrett has one major opinion on the Second Amendment, her dissent in Kanter v. Barr. That case upheld a blanket ban on felons possessing firearms. Barrett argued that ban was overbroad and unconstitutional. Her opinion offers a window into how she would approach 2A questions. /2

Any dissolution of the NRA would be a boon for other gun rights organizations, who are likely to receive the NRA's assets if dissolved. NY doesn't get to keep the $$, but must give it away to further the donors' objectives -- here, strong protection for 2A rights. If you just get together all the key players forced out of the NRA by LaPierre this past year--including its president, its political director (and long rumored successor to LaPierre), its longtime DC lawyers, and several directors--you could form a pretty strong gun rights org

The New York Attorney General's Office is set to make a major announcement today. The likely target isn't Trump -- it's the @NRA. (Thread) NY AG has been investigating the NRA for the past year, looking into allegations of fraud, misuse of member funds, and improper insider deals. Allegations emerged out of the messy divorce between the NRA & its longtime ad agency, Ackerman McQueen.

While people are appropriately focusing on the historic LGBT cases decided today, the Court's rejection of 10 Second Amendment cases is also quite noteworthy -- and is a major setback to the gun rights movement. The Court had 10 2A cases to choose from and took none of them. It wasn't for lack of a good case: these 10 presented the justices with all the major open questions on the scope of the 2A, some by leading advocates.

Where is the @NRA in the Black Lives Matter protests? I thought the NRA was fighting to make sure that victims of a tyrannical government are armed and defended. Govt tyranny is exemplified by police abuse. (Thread 1/8) The @NRA, if it truly believed in armed protection for victims of govt tyranny, should be in the very front of the BLM protests. NRA should be encouraging its members to stand up to protect the protestors and their cause. (2/8)

This was a good discussion of what could be a blockbuster Second Amendment case in the Supreme Court.

https://twitter.com/ConstitutionCtr/status/1167228699403591680

This case is now quite evidently moot. The city police department rule has not only been rescinded (prob insufficient to moot the controversy) but the state has even passed a law specifically problhibiting the reinstatement of the challenged restrictions.

Ackerman was responsible for iconic, influential messaging about the Second Amendment, including Charlton Heston's "from my cold dead hands" and is by far the NRA's biggest business partner, billing the NRA nearly $40 million annually. The NRA is claiming that Ackerman refuses to allow the NRA to inspect books and records related to their work -- books and records that Ackerman is required by contract to provide.

Wow, what a tremendous book and work of scholarship: @sejr_historian magisterial They Were Her Property, on white women slave owners in the US. A persuasive, insightful study that requires us to recognize how women shaped slavery, both as slave owners and enslaved people. Traditional analyses of slavery emphasize men and their role in the violence of slavery, with women occupying a place in the background at best. @sejr_historian shows that women owned & controlled slaves on their own (even within a marriage), and meted out violence with cruelty

A quick thread on Parkland, which was a turning point in the gun debate. First, the Parkland students injected new passion into the gun violence prevention movement – and pushed gun control to the top of the Democratic Party’s agenda. They also likely influenced the 2018 midterms.

Today's cert grant by the Supreme Court on the Second Amendment deals with a relatively minor law (NY's restrictions on transportation of firearms) but the ruling could be huge. This the first Supreme Court case on the right to have a gun outside of the home -- a key issue that has so far been left unresolved by the Court. A broad ruling in the NY case could undermined longstanding laws on concealed carry.

Thank you! Powell did play an influential role in advancing corporate free speech rights, especially in Bellotti case in which the Court struck down a limit on corporate political spending 30 years before Citizens United.

https://twitter.com/heatherwhitneym/status/1073234268975976448

Powell’s view of the question was echoed by Citizens United: it wasn’t whether corporations had rights but whether the law burdened speech the First Amendment protected regardless of speaker.

One of the main arguments for why courts should overturn Chevron and no longer defer to administrative agencies is that agencies are "unaccountable." Yet the Trump administration's moves on numerous issues, especially the roll back of the Endangered Species Act, proves otherwise.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1020008636465209344

We've seen a remarkable transformation in government policy at the agency level since Trump's inauguration. This is due directly to the election. Take the Endangered Species Act roll back -- something developers were pushing for. Trump won and they are getting it.

Unlike some Supreme Court nominees, Kavanaugh has articulated his view of the Second Amendment and the Heller case. His views, as laid out in Heller 2, are well to the right of the majority of federal appeals court judges to rule on 2A issues, GOP or Dem appointed. /Thread This is not to criticize Kavanaugh as much as to explore his approach to 2A issues, about which I am being asked a lot about these days. His views should thrill the @NRA -- and conversely worry gun safety groups like @Everytown.

What will Justice Kennedy's retirement and replacement by a Trump appointee likely mean for the Second Amendment? /Thread Since 2010, the Supreme Court has decided only one Second Amendment case, despite the fact that many basic Second Amendment issues remain unresolved.

In today’s important 4th Amendment case, which requires government to obtain a warrant before tracking your cellphone, Chief Justice Roberts joined with the 4 liberal justices. Of course it has happened before (eg the Obamacare case), but still rare. This term has seen an unusual number of unexpected lineups. In the internet retailer sales tax case, Ginsburg joined Thomas, Gorsuch, Alito and Kennedy in the majority. In a criminal sentencing case, Breyer was joined by Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Ginsburg.

Thread on Justice Thomas having lunch with VP Pence today: There is nothing wrong with Supreme Court justices socializing with presidents, VPs - and there’s a long tradition of them doing so.

https://twitter.com/gregstohr/status/1010149423924596736

Justices Jackson & Douglas were regulars in FDR’s poker game.

The Supreme Court punted again today, failing to issue a ruling on the merits of partisan gerrymandering. With this an Masterpiece Cakeshop’s non-decision, this is the year of the punt. With 9 justices finally, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a large number of hugely controversial issues this year. Yet the justices are finding it harder than they expected and they’ve punted on districting and the wedding cake case. It’s the year of the punt.

A wonderful new review of We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights by the @ACLU’s top lawyer, @DavidColeACLU 👇

https://twitter.com/thenation/status/1004348035088965638

We the Corporations is “engaging and accessible,” “offers a balanced guide to a controversial constitutional issue, and succeeds in showing that the issue is far more nuanced than advocates on either side care to admit.”

One thing totally ignored in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case: It's about corporate rights. Although the Court's opinion focuses only on the baker personally, the law required his *business* (which is a corporation) to serve all customers regardless of sexual orientation. The Court in the wedding cake case overlooks an important question: under the Constitution, does a for-profit business corporation have religious liberty rights? Totally ignored by the Court.

Kennedy's opinion in the Masterpiece Cakeshop wedding cake case importantly does not permit widespread discrimination by businesses against same-sex couples. It's very limited -- really to this case only. One of the biggest questions in the wedding cake case was, What would Kennedy do? The author of all the Supreme Court's major pro-gay rights cases would not want to write an opinion allowing discrimination against LGBT people. It would taint his legacy on LGBT rights.