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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 3, 2023

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Aside from Roe, can you name another? I believe there are two members of the Supreme Court (Thomas and Barrett) who might seriously consider overturning Brandenburg, but that's it.

Lemon v. Kurtzman overturned by Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.

Abood v. Detroit Board of Education overturned by Janus v. AFSCME.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke overturned by Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

Not necessarily from the same era, but NYSRPA v. Bruen basically overturned every 2nd amendment case in history besides Heller

Lemon v. Kurtzman overturned by Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.

Wikipedia claims that; the opinion of the court claims Lemon had already been effectively set aside.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke overturned by Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

SFFA overturned neither Bakke (which was a mess of a set of opinions, and in fact the ruling was in favor of Bakke) nor even the later Grutter which endorsed Powell's opinion in Bakke. The ruling was that Harvard and UNCs programs were impermissible under Grutter.

Not necessarily from the same era, but NYSRPA v. Bruen basically overturned every 2nd amendment case in history besides Heller

I only wish it overturned US v. Miller.

Wikipedia claims that; the opinion of the court claims Lemon had already been effectively set aside.

Yeah, by previous Roberts court opinions like American Legion v. American Humanist Association

SFFA overturned neither Bakke (which was a mess of a set of opinions, and in fact the ruling was in favor of Bakke) nor even the later Grutter which endorsed Powell's opinion in Bakke. The ruling was that Harvard and UNCs programs were impermissible under Grutter.

If your take is, "actually affirmative action has been illegal the whole time," I guess you might be right, but that's kind of missing the point.

I only wish it overturned US v. Miller.

It did. The two opinions are fundamentally irreconcilable. Nobody knows how much of the NFA is constitutional at the moment.

American Humanist also claims Lemon had already been set aside.

If your take is, "actually affirmative action has been illegal the whole time," I guess you might be right, but that's kind of missing the point.

My point is that the lower courts had effectively overruled the Supreme Court by turning a blind eye to blatant violations of the restrictions on affirmative action programs set out by Grutter, and SFFA was therefore not changing precedent by re-affirming those restrictions.

It did. The two opinions are fundamentally irreconcilable. Nobody knows how much of the NFA is constitutional at the moment.

Enough of Bruen will be carved out to allow all of the NFA to stand. Except on abortion, that's how the Roberts court works; make apparently major decisions which change nothing.

Enough of Bruen will be carved out to allow all of the NFA to stand. Except on abortion, that's how the Roberts court works; make apparently major decisions which change nothing.

Granting cert in US v Rahimi looks all downside on that front especially given the facts of the case and the plaintiff. And that's not even getting close to the NFA section of 18 USC 922.

Yeah, the law in Rahimi is a real stinker, abrogating rights because of restraining orders which are handed out like candy. But they wouldn't have taken that plaintiff if they weren't intending to uphold the law.

You just had 6 SCOTUS justices put forth a very strong view of first amendment protections (including ACB and Thomas). I don’t know if they specifically cite Brandenburg but what makes anyone think they want to revisit first amendment caselaw? If anything, they seem keen to extend it.

Now if they actually were to reinstate Lochner my joy would be complete.