Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter Readers. The Supreme Court has still not ruled on Donald Trump’s immunity claim, which continues to block a federal lawsuit against election interference. But the court upheld access to mifepristone (for now), amid deadly consequences for weapons as the term nears its end and several major rulings remain.
Those consequences come from the court that lifted the ban on supplies issued by the Trump-era Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Bumpstocks attach to semi-automatic rifles, allowing rapid fire. The ban followed the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest in modern US history.
Writing for the six Republican appointeesJudge Clarence Thomas said the Trump administration has gone too far. The justices reasoned that bump stocks don’t technically convert semi-automatic rifles into “machine guns” under federal law.
A dissenting opinion for the three Democratic-appointed Judge Sonia Sotomayor criticized Thomas’s “artificially narrow definition,” which she said will “have deadly consequences” and “hinder the government’s efforts to deter machine guns from gunmen like the Las Vegas shooter .’
It’s the latest pro-gun statement of the court that expanded Second Amendment rights in the 2022 Bruen decision, which Thomas also wrote. But Friday’s bump stock ruling in Garland v. Cargill is not a constitutional case; it’s about agency power and statutory interpretation, which means Congress can pass a law that explicitly bans bump stocks. Until then, the court will have excessive power over this issue.
Speaking ofSenate Republicans blocked Democrats’ latest attempt to pass Supreme Court ethics legislation. The bust came the same week that Senate Democrats revealed Thomas received more secret travel from billionaire Harlan Crow. This follows Thomas’ admission last week that he should have revealed Crow’s previous travels.
The judges also rejected this the challenge to access to mifepristone on legal grounds. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained that the anti-abortion doctors and groups had no right to bring their case in the first place because “a plaintiff’s desire to make a drug less available for others does not create legal standing.”
That was the obvious call, but it was never guaranteed that the court would see it that way. In any case, the ruling does not eliminate the threats to reproductive rights that are looming nationwide, including from a possible second Trump administration and from the court itself, which has yet to issue a major ruling on abortion in the coming weeks.
On top of the immunity schemeWe are also still awaiting the decision on the January 6 obstruction charge, which could also impact Trump’s case.
There is still a big decision to be made is United States v. Rahimi on the constitutionality of banning gun ownership for people subject to domestic violence restraining orders. Like the bump stock ruling, this one has implications for gun control across the country.
Among those who pay attention is Hunter Biden, who was convicted this week in Delaware of gun possession under a law that bans gun ownership for drug users. With President Joe Biden saying his son should not expect clemency, the suspect’s legal fate on appeal could be determined by the decision in Rahimi.
We’ll find out next week whether and how the court will rule in these and other cases as Trump gets closer to his July 11 sentencing in New York.
Do you have any questions or comments for me? I like to hear from you! Please email deadlinelegal@nbcuni.com for an opportunity to be featured in a future newsletter.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
