On June 18, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Hemani. The case was 9-0, though was fragmented. Justice Thomas concurred, finding that possession statute exceeded Congress's powers under the Commerce Clause. Justices Jackson and Sotomayor repeated their view that Bruen was wrongly decided. And Justices Alito and Kagan concurred in judgment, though I still am not entirely sure what they disagreed with the majority about.
Today, the Supreme Court decided Wolford v. Lopez. There was a time when we had to wait more than a decade for the Supreme Court to decide a Second Amendment case. This year, we get two victories in the span of a week! Here, the Court split 6-3, finding that Hawaii's "vampire" law violates the Second Amendment.
Justice Alito, who did not join Hemani, wrote the majority opinion in Wolford. Part I of Alito's opinion offers an extremely thorough, nine-page discussion of Heller, McDonald, Bruen, and Rahimi. This is a perfect capsule summary to teach students about how the doctrine has developed since 2008. But something very significant is missing: Hemani. Indeed, Justice Alito writes that Rahimi was "our most recent Second Amendment case." What about Hemani, decided seven days ago? Alito does not cite Hemani at all. But Justice Barrett's concurrence and Justice Jackson's dissent does cite Hemani.
