Friday round-up

At Law & Liberty (via How Appealing), John McGinnis worries that in two cases involving the ability of presidential electorsin the Electoral College to exercise their own legal discretion in the choice of President, the Court may do grave damage to originalism by suggesting that the bad consequences of a constitutional provision or practice subsequent to the time of its enactment can override its original meaning. In a response at Reasons Volokh Conspiracy blog, Josh Blackman suggests that a middle-ground approach to help reconcile the original public meaning of the Constitution with pragmatic concerns could help[] to avoid originalism’s burial.

Briefly:

• For USA Today, Richard Wolf reports that [t]he coronavirus has left the Supreme Court with a difficult task: balancing the nation’s physical and spiritual health: [a]s all 50 states ease restrictions put in place to combat the pandemic, churches and other religious institutions are seeking equal treatment.
• Marcia Coyle reports for The National Law Journalthat the justices considered “10 gun-related petitions, a raft of qualified immunity challenges, an attempt to block mandatory state bar fees and the Trump administrations fight with California over its immigration laws” at their conference yesterday.
• At Volokh Conspiracy, Ilya Somin notes that “[a]fter a seven-year legal battle that resulted ina decision by the US Supreme Courtand two (so far) bythe Indiana State Supreme Court, the state of Indiana hasfinally returned a $40,000 land rover owned by Tyson Timbs, which had been seized through the asset forfeiture process.”
• At National Review (via How Appealing), Alexandra DeSanctis writes that [a] new PBS documentary,Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, will give anyone who watches it new appreciation for [Thomas] unbelievable success, a testament to what men are capable of.

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