Wow, that was an intense morning at SCOTUS. I don’t think anyone expected Justice Palin to join with the liberal contingent on the Navajo Nation mineral rights dispute, but of course that’s hardly the big headline.

As usual, the court waited until the very end of the month to issue opinions on three of this term’s highest-profile cases.

• U.S. v. Namey — The “2A/DV” case. In a 7-2 decision (it feels extraneous to specify the SCOTUS spread on the vast majority of cases these days, but I’m basically programmed to do it at this point) the Court held that federal prohibitions on gun ownership for people under restraining orders for domestic violence are unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion. (You’ll remember that one of the last investigations ProPublica ran before it shuttered late last year detailed a series of cozy financial dealings between Alito’s wife and a real estate company associated with NRA President Wayne LaPierre.)

• Doe/ACLU v. Florida Board of Medicine — The “trans un-personhood” case, another 7-2 decision. Inevitable, but no less devastating even so. Slate’s SCOTUS-watcher, Hari Blake, tweeted that the “majority opinion from Thomas is about as cold-blooded a piece of legal reasoning as has ever been issued in this country.” The opinion upholds Florida’s “legitimate state interest” in preserving and codifying the “biological and chromosomal sex binary natural to the human species,” enabling the state to begin enforcing its ban on “medically unnecessary” gender affirmation and transition treatments. (To wit: under the law, there is no such thing as a “medically necessary” gender affirming/transition treatment.) A strongly worded dissent from Justice Sotomayor called the ruling “indefensibly cruel” and “sure to result in chaotic enforcement mechanisms that will infringe on the most basic human rights of self-expression.”

• Lone Star Freedom From Religion Coalition v. Cain — Of course, a 7-2 decision. The “classroom commandments” case. The majority opinion from Chief Justice Roberts holds that the state of Texas can compel the display of the 10 Commandments in public schools, owing to the “ancient, cross-cultural, and heterogenous origins of what is a fundamentally secular text when properly viewed through the sociological lens of Judeo-Christian history.” Justice Kagan’s dissent included the word “laughable.”

Fun (?) fact: the photo above is from my alma-mater, Nancy Day-Turner Elementary (go Panthers!), the first public school to implement literal stone tablets as part of compliance with Texas’ HB 8 back in 2019 as a hat-tip to hometown boy and then-Senator Rudy Ruiz. They’re the inspiration for the famous SNL skit with Leslie Jones as Principal Moses.

Things are quiet here in Gallum County (no surprise), but it remains to be seen whether any or all of these decisions are going to kick off sizable protests either in D.C. or in the states which are not currently enforcing Harrow restrictions on unlicensed public gatherings (CA, IL, NM, MN, NY, VT, HI). With the holiday weekend coming up, it feels like things could go either way.

Other stuff I’m reading as I play catch-up on what’s been happening in my home state:

• “Texas power use breaks record in heat wave” (Reuters)

• “A pandemic Mecca, tech hub Austin becomes best city to launch a career” (The Messenger)

• “Life sciences VC firm Portal Innovations expanding to Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park” (BizJournals)

• “LGBTQ+ Texans move forward with Pride plans despite tense political environment and fears of violence” (Texas Tribune)

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