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Notes -
Eh... kinda. The Court does not give solely advisory opinions -- that's the steelman for the court punting as moot even in the face of voluntary cessation -- and famously refused and continues to refuse to answer when pressed for questions before a law is passed. And it supposedly won't comment about future cases in present ones.
((Modulo the various exceptions.))
But as to whether opinions can advise about future laws, well, Alito's concurrence in Cargill doesn't say that a machine gun ban would be constitutional, but it's not exactly subtle in encouraging Congress to pass a law, and that's just a recent one. When it comes to dicta, the rule against advisory opinions have always been held closer in theory than in the breach.
I think when it's a case on statutory construction, it's kind of obvious that Congress can step in and do whatever is needful. The dicta here seems more about placing the court's role as arbiter of statutory construction in the right scope.
That's different from dicta on a Constitutional matter (e.g. Scalia's dicta in Heller about longstanding law) which are more relevant tea leaves since the Court is the final arbiter of those matters.
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