SCOTUS RULES ON GUN SILENCERS | Comcast Discrimination Case Gets Taken Up | RBG Shows Her Hand On Other Justices
June 10, 2019
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
|Today the Supreme Court left in place a federal law that requires gun silencers to be registered. The high court also refused to consider whether such firearm accessories are protected under the Second Amendment. The decision comes after the Virginia Beach shooting in which a silencer was used to kill 12 people. Justices turned away the petitions without comment or dissent.
WHAT ISN'T ON THE TUBE
|Justices today decided to take on a case alleging the nation’s largest TV company, Comcast, discriminated against an African-American owned media company in declining to take up its channels. The company, Entertainment Studios Network (ESN), is solely owned by media mogul Byron Allen who is alleging that Comcast violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Adopted by the Reconstruction Congress, the Civil Rights Act said “all persons … shall have the same right” to “make and enforce contracts … as is enjoyed by white citizens.”
FOR-EVER-EVER
|For 17 years, a Yemeni citizen has been indefinitely detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention center without being charged with a crime. Today, justices declined to hear his case without comment, but JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER said the court should revisit the issue of “perpetual detention” at Gitmo.
THE STATE OF PLAY
|On Friday, JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG said in a speech at a judicial conference that the retirement of JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY was “the event of greatest consequence for the current term, and perhaps for many terms ahead.” She also indicated that she thinks well of SCOTUS newbie BRETT KAVANAUGH. Adam Liptak with The New York Times reports on her comments, which also indicated the upcoming Census ruling will likely be sharply divided with RBG on the losing side.
A BIT SNIPPY
|Richard Wolf with USA Today reports on the divisions at the high court that have become more and more public throughout the course of this term. He notes that while justices usually keep everything in the public above board, written opinions and dissents have been “a bit snippy” — particularly between JUSTICES GINSBURG and THOMAS. Wolf writes, “The court’s four liberals have displayed irritation at its new, more conservative majority – including once in the middle of the night. And some of the five conservatives are showing impatience with the incremental pace of change.”
ON THE HORIZON
|Bloomberg’s Greg Stohr notes that the weeks ahead could impact the 2020 election and “thrust the court even deeper into the nation’s political wars.” The Supreme Court is in the final weeks of its term and will weigh in on some of the most important issues of our time including partisan gerrymandering and the upcoming Census questionnaire.