The Supreme Court appears open to upholding ghost gun regulations

Marcia Coyle:

Well, definitely guns.

It seems we will always have gun cases. In addition to today’s ghost gun argument, a very interesting case has come to court involving Mexico. Mexico sued Smith & Wesson and several other weapons manufacturers, alleging that they, through their distribution system, knowingly contributed to the arms trade to drug cartels in Mexico.

Now Congress has passed a law that gives gun manufacturers a broad shield from liability for criminal acts committed with the weapons they manufacture. But there is one small exception to that broad shield, and Mexico has tried to fit its lawsuit into that exception.

Smith & Wesson lost in the lower court, went to the Supreme Court, and that’s what matters. Can Mexico proceed with the lawsuit against Smith & Wesson? So weapons, sure.

The power case is that overarching theme and includes some really interesting cases this term. Vaping. There is – the Food and Drug Administration would not approve the marketing plans for e-cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes, and the maker of those cigarettes has sued the Food and Drug Administration, claiming it exceeded its authority by not properly marketing approve.

And then the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in a battle with the state of Texas over the storage of nuclear waste outside the reactors. Texas says: oh NRC, you have exceeded your authority.

So these are very important issues, but they all relate to agency power. There’s also a fascinating case about the First Amendment. The court is increasingly using social media in different ways. This case concerns a Texas law that requires age verification to access online porn. The law was clearly put in place to protect minors. So that’s going to be fascinating too.

And finally, the culture war, Tennessee’s ban, as 24 other states have done, on medical treatment of transgender minors.