Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026If you think Josh Hawley and his ilk give a shit about 7th grade girls cross-country, please read this ⬇️ to better understand how we got from North Carolina's failed bathroom ban in 2016 to WV v. BPJ today 010
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026static.klipy.comThis Is America Dance - Childish GambinoALT: This Is America Dance - Childish Gambino 020
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichNiko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · 30/06/2026The upcoming midterm elections are going to be contested amid a broken Voting Rights Act, "rigorously" invalidated campaign-finance laws, and federal election commissioners who can be fired for no reason. The only people who voted for this absurd legal regime are the unelected justices on the Court 51356332
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Serena Williams has been harassed and mocked for her strength and size, with questions about whether she was a "real woman." I hope the young girls that dominate and maybe don't conform to gender norms can be as strong so we don't lose the next Serena Williams to sex-testing "for her benefit" 000
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Time to bring back the nude parades! Sure they just so happen to only be for women, but it is for their protection. Here, let Justice Kavanaugh explain.... www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/m...nytimes.comThe Humiliating Practice of Sex-Testing Female Athletes (Published 2016) 010
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026WV v. BPJ: 7th grade girl wants to run cross-country with friends (record says she's mid). No risk of injuring others, no stolen 5th place plaques. District Court called it a solution w/o a problem. WV couldn't show any other instance in the state. Now RBR AND heightened scrutiny satisfied because..static.klipy.comFuck EmALT: Fuck Em 020
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026DON'T ASSUME A JUSTICE'S STANCE BASED ON PREVIOUS OPINIONS, STATEMENTS, DICTA, TWEETS, BLOGS, SKYWRITINGS, SLAM POETRY‼️ Gorsuch proved this in the gender-affirming care cases and it's why Kavanaugh's writing in Dobbs on the right to travel MEANS LITERALLY NOTHING should it come to the Courtstatic.klipy.comIt Means Nothing Real Housewives Of Beverly HillsALT: It Means Nothing Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills 010
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Remember the trans attacks began because they needed something to foment the extreme conservative base after Obergefell, not because there was any actual demand for it or harm they wanted to address. This was stated publicly in several articles where they admit they "threw everything at the wall" 010
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichSteve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 30/06/2026One clarification: It's 6-3 on equal protection (the big question); it's actually unanimous on Title IX, but on *very* different grounds. 625952
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichChanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 30/06/2026Trans fam: your lives are precious no matter what the fuck these people say translifeline.org/hotline/translifeline.orgHotline - Trans LifelineTrans Lifeline’s Hotline is a peer support phone service run by trans people for our trans and questioning peers. Call us if you need someone trans 7702311
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichMark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Sotomayor, joined by Kagan and Jackson, agrees that the trans plaintiff's Title IX claim fails, but accuses the majority of reaching an overly broad conclusion about Title IX's tolerance of anti-trans discrimination. The three fully dissent on equal protection. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... 135161
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I would've bet any amount of money Coach Kavanaugh would write this opinion "protecting" girls sports, so perhaps the only surprise is for those optimists out there who maybe thought the ruling wouldn't address the Title IX & 14A claims 010
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichLeah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 30/06/2026As always - must read, super important stuff from Steve - & absolutely essential context/table setting for what is likely to happen today. 621849
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichChris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Sotomayor is reading from her Slaughter dissent. (She wrote the dissent for the three liberals in that case.) 327934
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichAdam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Deeply convinced by the quality of his arguments that Alito spends a ton of time on X. bsky.app/profile/barb... 642289310
Reposted by Michael R. Ulrichjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/06/2026lastly, funny how it is the court that determines whether something constitutes history and tradition. a century of established practice vindicated by a century of presidents, congresses and electoral majorities? means nothing because six harvard and yale grads read some bad scholarship 121008153
Reposted by Michael R. Ulrichjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/06/2026ah the 401K exception. i’ll have to read the slaughter opinion but it is worth saying that insulating operational control of the executive branch from congress is an instance of how “separation of powers” starkly undermines accountability and democracy 171476224
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichSteve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 29/06/2026There's no sugar-coating Slaughter. It's an enormously important ruling (far more important than the other three decisions #SCOTUS handed down today). It's a huge win for Trump/the executive. And it's going to have massive ramifications for the functioning of the government long after Trump is gone. 18536541325
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichDeborah Pearlstein @debpearlstein.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Let's be clear in reporting this. SCt expressly overrules (yet another) landmark precedent in Humphrey's Executor that has been the basis of American federal governance for nearly a century. 626697
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 29/06/2026This is pretty much it. 171715385
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichMark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Slaughter is an earthquake: SCOTUS has overturned a 90-year-old precedent that facilitated much of modern governance by granting many agencies meaningful independence from the president. Now SCOTUS crushes that independence ... for seemingly every agency except the Federal Reserve. 5131201274
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichSteven Mazie @stevenmazie.bsky.social · 29/06/2026BREAKING: Supreme Court BLOCKS Donald Trump's bid to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. The vote is 5-4. Chief Justice Roberts writes for himself, Justice Kavanaugh and Justices Kagan, Jackson and Sotomayor. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...supremecourt.gov 1256
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichSteven Mazie @stevenmazie.bsky.social · 29/06/2026BREAKING: Supreme Court sides with Trump in landmark case involving the presidential power to fire independent agency heads. The vote is 6-3. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...supremecourt.gov 7214
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 29/06/2026For location data concerns post-Dobbs: "An individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in records about his cell phone’s location, & police intrude on that constitutionally protected interest when they demand the info—even though for only a limited time, & from a 3rd-party tech company." 031
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichChris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Next up is Chatrie v. U.S. Kagan has the opinion for the court, holding that a search occurred when acquiring cell-phone data from a geofence warrant but remanding for the appeals court to decide if the search was reasonable. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... 332086
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichLeah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Sigh of relief about the outcome in Watson v. RNC - SCOTUS says federal law doesn't prohibit states from counting ballots received after election day. Then nearly doubled over seeing that ... it was only by a bare majority of 5-4. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...supremecourt.gov 1937978
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026With 2A gender & racial justice back in vogue at SCOTUS, Daniel Harawa & I are avail to discuss their brief Rahimi respite should @strictscrutiny.bsky.social @profmmurray.bsky.social @kateshaw.bsky.social @leahlitman.bsky.social want any help yalelawjournal.org/collection/u...yalelawjournal.orgYale Law JournalFor over a century, the Yale Law Journal has been at the forefront of legal scholarship, sparking conversation and encouraging reflection among scholars and students, as well as practicing lawyers and... 020
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026ACB in Wolford: “It is beyond me why Hawaii would claim these vile laws can justify its present day restriction” because the analogous gun laws cited were part of Black Codes passed by committees describing slavery as benign and misunderstood….sounds eerily familiar www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...nbcnews.comNew Florida standards teach that Black people benefited from slavery because it taught useful skillsThe standards, which were blasted by a statewide teachers' union as a "step backward," were approved Wednesday by the State Board of Education. 000
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026I highly recommend Eric Ruben's Law of the Gun, 107 Iowa L. Rev. 173 (2021), to understand the problems with conceiving of guns as the only (or primary) means for keeping and bearing arms for self-defense both historically and currently papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 222
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026A truly bonkers part of Alito’s Wolford opinion is distinguishing old laws concerned with the negative impact of shootings on private property because nobody would notice someone carrying a concealed gun…..until that gun is used, which is the entire point of Hawaii’s law 🤦♂️ 031
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Alito is aghast that Hawaii could deign to burden a person who merely wants their handgun at the ready at the gas station, convenience store, restaurant, coffee shop, drug store, grocery store, big box store, home improvement store, barber shop, hair salon, and laundromat 021
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Framing Rahimi as concerning modern conduct is bizarre because it is a modern law that makes the conduct modern and that law is what is challenged. The law’ “recent vintage” should work against it under Bruen but Alito’s description suggests it creates more flexibility under Bruen 🤷♂️ 021
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Even in Bruen the numbers-based restriction was inconsistently used by dismissing the relevance of territories or low population areas, while deriding the few modern states with the restriction that covered 80 million people….not a great exemplar of judicial constraint 021
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026This part of the opinion is critical because it means assault weapons bans (among other restrictions) will be presumptively unconstitutional and diminishes—if not eliminates—potential dangerous/unusual arguments 152
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Alito loves using women to justify broad 2A opinions, ignoring women's main threats are known assailants in the home. As I wrote in @yalelawjournal.bsky.social after Rahimi, women are more likely to be found guilty and sentenced to longer terms when shooting abusers papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 030
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026For additional reading, here's some of my pal Daniel Harawa's writings on the topic: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 011
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichOrin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.social · 24/06/2026"The Fourth Amendment and the Color-Blind Constitution," new from me at Volokh. reason.com/volokh/2026/... 24316
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Guns as essential self-defense weapons at the founding has repeatedly been disproven and is unnecessary. Its less absurd to say self-defense is the 2A core and the right protects guns now because of tech changes over time. Alito is forcing a false persistence of gun-centric culture in this country 131
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichJake Charles @jacobdcharles.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Right off the bat Alito begins with anachronism. As @maureenebrady.com brilliantly showed in her recent SLR piece, the Court is projecting modern property categories backwards. www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/prope... 513558
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026KBJ repeatedly asks the majority to choose in 2A rulings: abandon Bruen or apply it. The inconsistent application reveals the futility of a history-only test and judicial activism hell bent on deciding who gets guns, what guns, and where they can be used, health and wellbeing of others be damnedstatic.klipy.comHomer Simpson: Five Days Without ShootingALT: Homer Simpson: Five Days Without Shooting 021
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Thomas also used to be the lone dissenter saying all of the abortion jurisprudence is wrong and Roe should be overturned, so.......🫣 121
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichChris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 25/06/2026The third and not last decision is Mullin v Al Otro Lado. Alito, again, has the opinion for the 6-3 court, holding that a person does not "arrive in the United States" if stopped on the other side of the border. Sotomoyar is reading from her dissent for the trio. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...supremecourt.gov 718653
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichSCOTUSblog @scotusblog.com · 25/06/2026The 2nd opinion is Wolford. The court holds Hawaii’s law barring licensed concealed-carry permit holders from carrying handguns on private property open to the public without the property owner’s express authorization violates the 2nd and 14th Amendmentssupremecourt.gov 11217
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 25/06/2026For those who were at my panel for an early June conference (you know who you are) where property rights were presented as a potentially fertile ground for appealling to more conservative jurists, I present Wolford v. Lopez (which I mentioned at the time could be a problem with the idea)static.klipy.comKanye West: Don't Act Like I Never Told YaALT: Kanye West: Don't Act Like I Never Told Ya 021
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Not only did Alito refrain from dissenting, he wrote a “chillax bro, what’s the big deal if someone smokes a little weed” concurrence that Kagan joined! 🤯 020
Michael R. Ulrich @michaelrulrich.bsky.social · 18/06/2026This result was expected by most (all?) at Duke’s 2A WIP last month so 9-0 ruling isn’t surprising. The ruling is narrow, due to the govt’s extremely broad view that the law automatically applies to anyone who uses a scheduled drug unlawfully or with any regularity @dukefirearmslaw.bsky.social 210
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichJohn Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Holy crap. Gorsuch is taking a direct shot at Bordenkircher, the case that basically enshrines modern plea bargaining's power (a threat of "take the plea deal for a few yrs or face life in prison if you go to trial" was not seen as coercive). 2267
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichSteven Mazie @stevenmazie.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Weed normalization from Sam Alito was not on my bingo card for this morning 33510
Reposted by Michael R. UlrichMark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 18/06/2026Absolutely disgusted that ever justice used a hyphen instead of an en dash in Rooker–Feldman. Feeling betrayed by the secret SCOTUS style guide. May write in with a complaint. 519010
