If Only SCOTUS Cared About Americans As Much As Illegals

If there was any doubt left that a majority of Supreme Court justices are more interested in playing politics than upholding Americans’ constitutional rights, it was all flushed down the drain following the Monday release of the high court’s weekly order list.

A week after refusing to defend the free speech rights of a Massachusetts minor, the nation’s highest court declined to take up two pertinent cases involving the Second Amendment. As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd reported, one involved a challenge to a 2013 Maryland law banning the possession of AR-15s, while the other saw plaintiffs contest a 2022 Rhode Island statute making it a felony “to possess a magazine that held more than 10 rounds of ammunition.”

Plaintiffs in both cases asked SCOTUS for relief after suffering losses in the lower federal courts.

Despite the seemingly egregious infringement of petitioners’ Second Amendment rights, only Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch signaled their intent to take up the cases. (At least four justices must agree to hear a case before it can be considered by the full court.)

On its face, the choice to reject consideration of the cases is appalling. But a further reading of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion rationalizing the Court’s declination to take up the Maryland case makes the majority’s decisions look even worse.

While the Trump appointee noted that “a denial of certiorari does not mean that the Court agrees with a lower-court decision or that the issue is not worthy of review” he went on to effectively say that the high court has no interest in tackling the “AR-15 issue” this year while it’s making its way through other circuit courts.

“The AR–15 issue was recently decided by the First Circuit and is currently being considered by several other Courts of Appeals. Opinions from other Courts of Appeals should assist this Court’s ultimate decisionmaking on the AR–15 issue,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Additional petitions for certiorari will likely be before this Court shortly and, in my view, this Court should and presumably will address the AR–15 issue soon, in the next Term or two.”

Consider the absurdity of Kavanaugh’s argument. Despite appearing sympathetic to plaintiffs and calling the 4th Circuit’s ruling “questionable,” he’s inadvertently saying that the apparent subversion of Marylanders’ Second Amendment rights is OK for now because SCOTUS might consider the matter if it pops up again in the near future.

With a statement that pathetic, it’s no wonder the majority’s decision generated a blistering dissent from Thomas, who aptly noted, “Our Constitution allows the American people — not the government — to decide which weapons are useful for self defense.”

While a majority on the high court seem perfectly willing to drag their feet as lower courts help subvert Americans’ constitutional rights, the same can’t be said for their urge to immediately address the plights of illegal aliens facing deportation.

Recall how during the dead of night on Easter weekend, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 order, attempted to temporarily block President Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport dangerous Venezuelan gang members from the United States. The clear usurpation of executive authority by the high court prompted dissents from Thomas and Alito, with the latter blasting the majority’s actions as “unprecedented and legally questionable.”

The 7-2 majority, which includes Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, has only continued to play political games with the administration’s attempts to deport these gang members. So much so that 5th Circuit Judge James Ho recently excoriated the high court for the “disrespect” it has shown “the district judge as well as the President and other officials” in the case.

The justices’ apparent willingness to quickly take up requests brought by lawyers of illegal aliens, while at the same time refusing to uphold the First and Second Amendment rights of American citizens, is not a good look. And that’s especially true for a Supreme Court that has thus far been unwilling to shut down the lower court judicial coup disenfranchising the 77 million Americans who voted for Trump last year.

For all his ill-fated attempts to uphold what he perceives to be the high court’s “legitimacy,” the actions (and rhetoric) of Roberts and several of his colleagues are helping destroy it. A Supreme Court that is more interested in playing political games than fulfilling its duty to consistently and faithfully uphold the Constitution as written is a Supreme Court that will lose trust among the American people.

The longer the justices continue to do the former instead of the latter, the more certain that reality will become.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood