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Roberts also pushed back on how some lower courts have applied the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which reaffirmed gun rights under the Constitution. “Some courts have misunderstood the methodology of our recent Second Amendment cases. These precedents were not meant to suggest a law trapped in amber,” Roberts wrote, defending the need for flexibility in interpretation.
He went further, implying that a rigid view of the Constitution would be absurd. “Otherwise,” Roberts added, “the Second Amendment would only protect ‘muskets and sabers.’”
Roberts emphasized that context matters in gun laws. “Why and how the regulation burdens the right are central to this inquiry. For example, if laws at the founding regulated firearm use to address particular problems, that will be a strong indicator that contemporary laws imposing similar restrictions of similar reasons fall within a permissible category of regulations.”
This ruling arrives as the Court has been increasingly active on hot-button issues. Just days earlier, it declined to revisit one of the most controversial free speech decisions in American legal history — New York Times v. Sullivan — a 1964 case that gives media outlets sweeping protections against defamation lawsuits brought by public figures.
That standard, which demands proof of “actual malice” before a public figure can sue the press for defamation, has long frustrated conservatives who believe the media abuses that shield. “The actual malice standard … exists to give even more breadth when you’re talking about famous people, people with power in government, or people just with more power in society,” First Amendment expert Kevin Goldberg told Axios. “The bar is intentionally high to dissuade people from ever filing these lawsuits.”
One prominent case that aimed to challenge Sullivan came from Steve Wynn, a former Republican National Committee finance chair and Trump ally. Wynn sued the Associated Press over a report linking him to decades-old allegations of misconduct. After Nevada courts dismissed the suit, Wynn appealed to the Supreme Court, but the justices refused to take the case.
Despite growing pressure, the Court still lacks the votes to overturn Sullivan, with several attempts failing over the years.
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Meanwhile, behind the scenes, speculation is swirling about whether any justices might step aside. Liberal activists have ramped up calls for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire, citing her age and long battle with type 1 diabetes. But sources close to her say she’s not going anywhere. “She takes better care of herself than anyone I know. She’s in great health, and the court needs her now more than ever,” a person told the Wall Street Journal.
On the right, rumors have also circulated about Justice Samuel Alito possibly retiring — speculation Alito himself appears to have shut down. “Despite what some people may think, this is a man who has never thought about this job from a political perspective,” one source said. “The idea that he’s going to retire for political considerations is not consistent with who he is.”
As America barrels toward another high-stakes election year, the Supreme Court’s rulings and the makeup of its bench remain front and center in the nation’s political battlefield. Whether it’s gun rights, press freedom, or the future of the bench itself, the fight is far from over.
