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New York Defies Supreme Court With Unconstitutional Gun Permit Laws

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New York’s new gun control law takes effect in two weeks. The law turns New York into a giant “gun-free zone.” But it also requires an in-person interview with law enforcement and the sharing of all social media accounts in order to obtain a gun license.

By requiring that gun license applicants have “good moral character,” New York is still acting in defiance of June’s Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. Brue. In a new court filing last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James claims that without these requirements, there would be an “entirely predictable chaos.” Democrats and gun control proponents have voiced similar fears in the other six states affected by the Supreme Court’s decision.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinion in Bruen stressed the importance of “objective” standards for gun permits, ones that don’t require “the exercise of judgment, and the formation of opinion.” He also noted that “there is no historical basis for New York to effectively declare the island of Manhattan a ‘sensitive place’ simply because it is crowded and protected generally by the New York City Police Department.” New York’s default position is that all private property is off-limits to lawful concealed carry unless the property owner notes “by clear and conspicuous signage” that guns are welcome.

There is no “chaos” coming our way. Since 1976, 18 states have eliminated subjective “proper cause” requirements, which require convincing a government bureaucrat of one’s need for a permit, in favor of “right-to-carry” policies. In these and other states, concealed handgun permit holders have proved extremely law-abiding. No right-to-carry state has ever even held a legislative hearing to consider moving back to a “proper cause” requirement. Over time states have also eliminated their gun-free zones as they have seen predictions of disaster not occurring. (Read more from “New York Defies Supreme Court With Unconstitutional Gun Permit Laws” HERE)

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State’s Supreme Court Defies Lower Court in New Ruling on Mail-in Voting Law

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Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the state’s expansion of mail-in voting, in a case brought by Republican state representatives who voted for the legislation in 2019.

“We find no restriction in our Constitution on the General Assembly’s ability to create universal mail-in voting,” wrote Justice Christine Donohue in the majority opinion.

The 5-2 ruling, with the two Republican justices both voting no, means expanded vote-by-mail will likely be in place for marquee races in November for governor and U.S. Senate.

A lower court panel with a majority of Republican judges had thrown out the law in January, a ruling put on hold while the state Supreme Court reviewed an appeal by the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

In the new decision, the justices agreed with Wolf’s argument that the lower court wrongly based its decision on court rulings that addressed older versions of the state constitution that had invalidated antiquated laws passed to expand absentee voting. (Read more from “State’s Supreme Court Defies Lower Court in New Ruling on Mail-in Voting Law” HERE)

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Investigators Searching for the Supreme Court Leaker Have “Narrowed It Down”

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Investigators searching for the Supreme Court leaker have “narrowed it down,” but no names of suspects have emerged publicly almost two months after the reveal of a draft opinion indicating Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned.

Fox News anchor Shannon Bream appeared on air with colleague Jesse Watters to talk about her report Friday revealing that the list of suspects has been shortened, citing knowledgeable unnamed sources, as there is still no word from the Supreme Court on the investigation’s progress.

“Thanks to our amazing producer Bill Mears, [we] have been digging around and found that they have started this group of essentially about 70 or so that would have had access to that document,” Bream said. “They have narrowed it down. They did ask the clerks who were then working at the court. And listen, their one-year contract is basically up mid-July. So most of them have moved on. They did ask them to turn over cellphones and sign affidavits. They asked some of those similar things also of permanent court employees.”

The leak to Politico prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to order an investigation by the marshal of the court. In a statement, the court confirmed the draft that was leaked was “authentic” but stressed it didn’t “represent a decision by the Court.” (Read more from “SCOTUS Leak Investigators ‘Narrowed It Down,’ Permanent Employees Grilled” HERE)

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Womp-Womp: New Poll Is Bad News for the Baby Killers

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It’s unsurprising that Democrats face an uphill battle in voter enthusiasm as November’s midterms approach — just look at the party’s top-ranking official, President Biden. But among issues that elected Democrats and mainstream pundits have insisted will close the enthusiasm gap, the opposite is turning out to be true.

According to new polling from The Washington Post, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs — which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned decisions on protecting the unborn to Americans and their elected representatives — has not become a rallying call that’s fired up Democrats to get out and vote. To put a point on the situation, WaPo writes in their piece on the poll that “those who support abortion access are less certain they will vote this fall.”

On the other side of the equation, pro-life Americans are turning out to be even more motivated to vote in the 2022 midterm elections, likely because the push to overturn Roe was always about giving Americans a voice — via their vote — in the discussion about what protections should be in place to protect the lives and rights of the unborn. Now that Roe is gone, the voices of pro-life Americans, especially those who list the right to life as a major or single-issue for which they vote, will be heard and matter when it comes to protecting life for the first time in decades this November.

Here’s the gist of what The Post’s poll found:

Those who reject the idea that the court’s ruling is a loss for women are 18 percentage points more likely to express certainty they will vote in the midterms — 70 percent compared with 52 percent of those who do see such a loss.

(Read more from “Womp-Womp: New Poll Is Bad News for the Baby Killers” HERE)

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Supreme Court Asked to Punish Texas Over Use of ‘Trump Judges’

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Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. famously declared that there were no Trump judges or Obama judges. He is about to get a real test on that matter.

A law professor has filed a brief with the Supreme Court urging the justices to rule against Texas in a lawsuit over the Biden administration’s handling of immigration enforcement. The lawsuit claims Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been unethically “judge shopping” by looking for Republican-appointed judges to handle his cases.

Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said Mr. Paxton looks for courthouses dominated by Republican judges, many of them appointed by President Trump, to improve his chances of success.

Steve Bannon criminal contempt trial: Prosecution rests case
Mr. Paxton has filed 27 cases against President Biden‘s policies, 19 of them in Texas. Of those, all but one is being overseen by a judge appointed by a Republican president, Mr. Vladeck said.

“This is more than forum-shopping, it is thinly veiled judge-shopping,” the professor wrote in a brief filed with the high court. (Read more from “Supreme Court Asked to Punish Texas Over Use of ‘Trump Judges’” HERE)

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Democrats Embrace Radical Push to Abolish Supreme Court

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The recent decisions by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority on abortion and guns appear to have pushed Democrats deeper into seeking radical changes that would shift the court back into liberal hands.

While, for many, simply packing the court with more left-wing judges was the answer before the recent decisions, a new survey found support for killing the court, electing judges, and even allowing the United Nations to have the final say.

A new Rasmussen Reports survey sponsored by the Heartland Institute, for example, found that 39% of Democrats would let the U.N. reverse Supreme Court decisions it viewed as human rights violations. The reversal of Roe vs. Wade could fall into that category.

Worse, a majority (53%) of Democrats would support legislation to “abolish” the court and turn it into an elected chamber with judges picked on ballots. Just 21% of Republicans agree with that proposal.

(Read more from “Democrats Embrace Radical Push to Abolish Supreme Court” HERE)

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Liberal Magazine Outraged Over Who Supreme Court Justices Have Prayed With

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Rolling Stone alleged the Supreme Court could have been unduly influenced by praying with religious groups in a lengthy piece published Wednesday.

Politics reporter Kara Voght wrote that Peggy Nienaber, vice president of the ministry group Faith & Liberty, admitted that she has prayed with Supreme Court justices in a secretly recorded video after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court,” Voght wrote.

“In other words,” she added, “Sitting Supreme Court justices have prayed together with evangelical leaders whose bosses were bringing cases and arguments before the high court.” (Read more from “Liberal Magazine Outraged Over Who Supreme Court Justices Have Prayed With” HERE)

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Pro-Lifers Should Never Have Tolerated Unconstitutional Roe, and Must Never Do So Again

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The Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs v. Jackson decision is a historic turning point in the battle for equal protection of preborn lives. But in the celebration over consigning blatantly unconstitutional pieces of judicial legislation to “the dustbin of history,” pro-lifers might be learning the wrong lessons. A non-leftist court is not guaranteed forever, and we must consider the hazards of holding the Supreme Court as the final arbiters of constitutionality, particularly when matters of life, death, and bodily autonomy are at stake.

While America submitted for nearly half a century to Roe‘s legal fiction, approximately 63 million preborn lives were snuffed out. Yes, pro-lifers have mourned all these lives lost. But the genocide would not have been of this magnitude if, for nearly five decades, the pro-life movement had focused on upholding the Constitution’s guarantees of the inalienable rights to life and equal protection instead of wrongly submitting to the obviously unconstitutional Roe opinion. . .

In 2019, Texas Alliance for Life’s Joe Pojman told the Austin Chronicle that a Texas abolition bill couldn’t receive their support because “We could no sooner ignore SCOTUS than the force of gravity.” Other pro-life leaders have made similar statements wrongly affirming Roe as the law of the land–a murderous regime, to be sure, but worthy of deference nonetheless.

Now, instead of admitting that states should never have tolerated Roe, pro-lifers are hailing Dobbs as an example of how trusting in “the system” pays off. Forty-nine years of legally enshrined child sacrifice is not success. Forty-nine years of Roe and its progeny governing before the court finally righted its grave errors is not evidence of “the success of the conservative legal movement,” but rather a lasting stain on the character of this nation.

A virtuous nation loyal to the Constitution would never have tolerated Roe a single day, just as Dred Scott v. Sandford wasn’t tolerated. That odious ruling that attempted to ensure owning slaves was legal in every part of America was defied by state supreme courts, legislatures, and even President Abraham Lincoln. Likewise, success in the abortion battle would have been holding ground in defense of the preborn and expanding existing prohibitions on abortion. It would have been state officials nullifying or interposing unconstitutional laws, not deferring to judicial rulings that sought to distort the Constitution’s meaning. (Read more from “Pro-Lifers Should Never Have Tolerated Unconstitutional Roe, and Must Never Do So Again” HERE)

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court Just Banned Ballot Drop Boxes

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that unmanned ballot drop boxes are illegal in the state and can no longer be used, marking a victory for election integrity activists.

“Ballot drop boxes are illegal under Wisconsin statutes. An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternate site,” the opinion states.

(Read more from “The Wisconsin Supreme Court Just Banned Ballot Drop Boxes” HERE)

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Louisiana Supreme Court Allows Abortions to Remain Legal Despite ‘Trigger Law’

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The Louisiana Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court ruling preventing the state from enforcing its ban on abortion.

In a 4-2 ruling late Wednesday, the majority of justices said the court will decline to be involved “at this preliminary stage” in denying the state attorney general’s request to allow immediate enforcement of state laws against most abortions.

The decision allows a lower court ruling that blocked enforcement of the state’s “trigger law” to stand. A district court judge last week imposed a temporary stay on enforcement following a legal challenge from abortion providers in the state who argued the law was overly vague.

The lower court ruling will remain in place as abortion providers make their case in court on Friday. (Read more from “Louisiana Supreme Court Allows Abortions to Remain Legal Despite ‘Trigger Law’” HERE)

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