Free Republic

The case could settle the long-simmering issue of whether the Second Amendment covers commonly owned but politically disfavored rifles.Last year, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Maryland's "assault weapon" ban, which covers some of the most popular rifles sold in the United States, including the AR-15. "Given that millions of Americans own AR–15s and that a significant majority of the States allow possession of those rifles," Justice Brett Kavanaugh said at the time, "petitioners have a strong argument that AR–15s are in 'common use' by law-abiding citizens and therefore are protected by the Second Amendment." Although Kavanaugh...

Native Americans won U.S. citizenship in 1924, but the struggle for voting rights stretched on for much longer. Native Americans couldn’t be U.S. citizens when the country ratified its Constitution in 1788, and wouldn’t win the right to be for 136 years. When Black Americans won citizenship with the 14th Amendment in 1868, the government specifically interpreted the law so it didn’t apply to Native people.

Heads up, faithful P&E readers: this is big. The Supreme Court has released its decision in Trump v. Barbara, the “birthright citizenship” case that has attracted much attention since President Trump issued his Executive Order 14160 immediately after assuming office for his second term. Cutting to the chase, the Court in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts has today invalidated the Executive Order. While the decision, of course, will have massive impact on 14th Amendment scholarship, it might well have an equal or greater impact on the different, yet related issue of who can be (or who cannot be)...

The U.S. Supreme Court is busily dishing out its final opinions before heading into America’s 250th birthday. But it’s also announcing which cases it’ll be hearing in its upcoming fall term. As part of its Monday order list, the high court revealed that it will be taking up and holding arguments in a series of legal disputes involving major policy questions. Among those granted “cert” is Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, which deals with a challenge to provisions of Arizona law requiring residents to prove they’re American citizens when registering to vote. As The Federalist previously reported, the...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 8 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released before July 1st. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025 Opinions. Today's opinions will...

In Part 1 (link below), I argued that the House of Representatives was designed to grow. For most of American history, it did. Then, in 1929, Congress froze the House at 435 seats. It has remained there ever since. Part 2 asks a different question: If the House is supposed to grow, how large should it be? At first, I thought the answer might have something to do with human nature. Maybe there was something buried deep in our DNA — some limit on how many people we can know, trust, manage, or represent. I was wrong. The deeper I...

Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) has introduced a resolution to repeal the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution established the direct election of U.S. senators in each state. Before, senators were appointed by state legislatures. The 17th Amendment reads: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 12 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025 Opinions. Today's opinions will...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 term this morning at 10:00. Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along. There are 17 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court. You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025...

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Trump administration does not have to reinstall the original slavery exhibits at the President's House. Three judges vacated a previous injunction compelling the National Parks Service to restore the panels it stripped from the historic site in January. The panel of justices in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals found that the city had not demonstrated the concrete harm it suffered from the removal, and praised the federal government's proposed alternatives. The case concerns a set of displays detailing George Washington's participation in the slave trade, and the nine enslaved people he...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 20 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025 Opinions. Today's opinions will...

The Supreme Court just issued a unanimous ruling, and the case behind it has everything: Twitter, Saudi dissidents, federal prosecutors, and a fake invoice. The decision came down June 11, 2026, in Abouammo v. United States, No. 25-5146. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a 9-0 Court, reversing the Ninth Circuit and sending the case back. Legal reporter Katie Buehler summed up the ruling this way: The defendant is Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter employee accused of giving confidential information about Saudi dissidents to a high-level Saudi official. According to the Court, the Saudi official wired Abouammo $300,000. Later, after Abouammo...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 23 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025 Opinions. Today's opinions will...

April 03, 2009, 2:00 p.m. Imperial Judiciary Goes GlobalBy the Editors In 2004, the Supreme Court sowed the seeds for a national-security upheaval when it ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that war prisoners held outside the United States had a right to challenge their detentions in federal court. Last year, in Boumediene v. Bush, the justices continued the seismic shift, holding that the right they had invented in Rasul — a right extended to aliens whose only connection to the United States is in waging war against it — was somehow rooted in our Constitution. Thursday, the inevitable earthquake...

ALBANY – Democratic lawmakers are looking to change the state constitution in a power grab that will allow them to carve up congressional maps — and target seven Republican-held seats. A proposed amendment released Monday by the Democratic majority would give its own members authority to change the maps to draw new congressional district lines favorable to their candidates, with insiders saying it could mean flipping at least four GOP congressional seats in the state. Democrats, who control both houses of the state legislature and hold a more than 2-to-1 voter enrollment advantage over Republicans, would need voters to approve...

A federal judge in New Hampshire on Thursday ruled the state’s 2024 law requiring first-time voters in the state to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote is unconstitutional. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliott on HB 1569 is being viewed as a strong rebuke of the Republican-backed policy, considered by voting rights advocates to be one of the nation’s most restrictive laws regarding U.S. citizenship and the right to vote. “New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,” said Elliott in...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 30 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.There are several big cases on which we are awaiting decisions.Little v HecoxWhether laws that seek to protect...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 33 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases here. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be be resolved by the Court.There are several big cases on which we are awaiting decisions. Trump v Slaughter.(1) Whether the statutory removal protections for...

But if Massie loses, it's not just the end of his career. (He told Mangu-Ward that if GOP primary voters send him packing, he's going back to his plow and "nobody will ever hear from me again"). It would also effectively be the end of what used to be called the Tea Party, a loose conglomeration of Republican representatives and senators who rode a wave of anti-Barack Obama and anti-George W. Bush sentiment to office in the early 2010s. Although some said that the tea in Tea Party stood for the "taxed-enough already," the rallying cry of the early Tea...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the opinion release and we will be following along.There are opinions pending in 35 cases from the October 2025 term. A list of cases from this term can be found here.One case of interest is Trump v. Slaughter Issues: (1) Whether the statutory removal protections for members of the Federal Trade Commission violate the separation of powers and, if so, whether Humphrey’s Executor v. United States should be overruled. (2) Whether a federal court may prevent a person’s removal from public office, either through relief at...