Another SCOTUS Vacancy Around The Corner? | The Second Amendment Cases Ready For Conservative Justices’ Review
May 27, 2020
HAVE SOME HUMANITY
|The Supreme Court yesterday refused a request from the Trump administration to block a lower court order requiring federal prison officials to protect more than 800 older or medically vulnerable inmates at an Ohio prison where nine have already died from the coronavirus. Though the justices blocked the Trump administration for now, it left the door open to revisit the matter down the line under different circumstances. JUSTICES ALITO, THOMAS, and GORSUCH dissented.
SHARKS ARE CIRCLING
|“Just months before Election Day, the question of whether PRESIDENT TRUMP will get to select a third Supreme Court justice hangs over the final weeks of the court’s term. Speculation over a possible vacancy has focused in recent years on the prospect of JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS exiting while Republicans control the White House and Senate, and alternatively on the health of the court’s aging liberal bloc.” That’s John Kruzel with The Hill reporting on Republicans’ “fresh attention” on SCOTUS. Although Kruzel points out that friends of Thomas say he isn’t close to being done with his work at the high court. Thomas is the longest-tenured justice, serving on the bench since 1991.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
|Jamie Ehrlich with CNN looks at the 10 cases that could change how SCOTUS looks at the Second Amendment. She notes that given recent comments from JUSTICES BRETT KAVANAUGH and CLARENCE THOMAS, the conservative bloc of the court seems ready and even eager to override state laws established to limit the availability, accessibility, and rules of carrying some firearms.
NAKED POWER PLAY
|But the Editorial Board of The Washington Post thinks we don’t need another ruling from the Supreme Court on guns. “Several justices appear eager to eliminate even the small amount of leeway the court has left lawmakers to enact mild restrictions on deadly weapons. In the absence of any substantial disagreement in lower courts, this would represent a raw and indefensible display of judicial activism.”
OTHER NEWS
CBS, NBC, ABC Affiliates: No Ownership Opportunities for Women Unless Supreme Court Intervenes
The Hollywood Reporter“If there are no television stations, then there can be no female- and minority-owned television stations. That’s the big argument from affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — pitching a bit of deregulation to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court will soon be deciding whether or not to review media ownership rules. Specifically, the FCC wishes to abandon a ban on a single company owning a local newspaper and broadcast station in a single market as well as a restriction on common ownership of more than a single top-four-rated television station in a given market.”