OUR PICKSThe Secret Plan to Strike Down U.S. Gun Laws | Texas Is Already Policing the Mexican Border | Dumping Seawater on Blazes Isn’t the Answer to California’s Wildfire Problem, and more
· The Secret Plan to Strike Down U.S. Gun Laws
· How the Supreme Court Broadened the Second Amendment
· Texas Is Already Policing the Mexican Border − and Will Play an Outsize Role in Any Trump Plan to Crack Down on Immigration
· China Tech Shrugged off Trump’s “Trade war” –There’s No Reason It Won’t Do the Same with New Tariffs
· Why Dumping Seawater on Blazes Isn’t the Answer to California’s Wildfire Problem
· For Those Deemed Trump’s Enemies, a Time of Anxiety and Fear
The Secret Plan to Strike Down U.S. Gun Laws ( Will Van Sant, The Tarce)
The Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision in Bruen was momentous. Conservative justices not only struck down New York’s law, but also established a new test for the constitutionality of all gun restrictions. No longer should courts weigh the government’s interest in reducing violence or promoting public safety against the right to bear arms, the majority said. Rather, the constitutionality of gun laws should depend on whether they’re similar enough to restrictions in place when the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, or when the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 — points at which, the justices said, the original meaning of the Second Amendment is best discerned.
Thanks to Bruen, lower courts have been deluged with gun law challenges. In the last two years, judges have issued, on average, more than one Bruen-related ruling daily, and firearms restrictions are being struck down at an unprecedented clip.
How the Supreme Court Broadened the Second Amendment (Chip Brownlee, The Tarce)
As The Trace launches a series about the court’s 2022 Bruen decision, we break down the ruling —and explain how it fundamentally changed our country’s approach to restricting guns.
Texas Is Already Policing the Mexican Border − and Will Play an Outsize Role in Any Trump Plan to Crack Down on Immigration (Dan DeBree, The Conversation)
Over the past half-decade, the state of Texas has been pushing an evolution in the administration and enforcement of immigration law. Stepping into a traditional federal role, state lawmakers in 2023 passed Senate Bill 4, allowing Texas police to arrest those illegally crossing the border from Mexico.
But that law, which survived court challenges, is not the only place where the state has taken on traditional federal responsibilities. The Conversation’s senior politics editor, Naomi Schalit, spoke with Texas A&M professor Dan DeBree, a former Homeland Security official and Air Force veteran, about the other moves Texas has made that likely put it in a position to be a key player in carrying out immigration enforcement actions by the Trump administration.
China Tech Shrugged off Trump’s “Trade war” – There’s No Reason It Won’t Do the Same with New Tariffs (Yu Zhou,The Conversation)
The problem for the incoming Trump administration is that while tariffs might alter the global map of China’s manufacturing and exports, they won’t dismantle any of the D.R.E.A.M. elements. In fact, they could have the opposite effect of accelerating China’s push for self-reliance and strengthening its foothold in global middle markets.
Part of the problem is that American policymakers often see technological competition with China as a zero-sum contest. But technological competition isn’t like a race with distinct lanes and a finish line. Rather, tech transformation is a complex process in which countries and companies compete, collaborate and build on each other’s work.
Ultimately, America’s technological prowess won’t be measured by how much it manages to stop China, but by how successfully American companies can address humanity’s greatest challenges. Attempts to hobble the competition through tariffs and trade wars will do little toward that end.
Why Dumping Seawater on Blazes Isn’t the Answer to California’s Wildfire Problem (Patrick Megonigal, Wired)
Firefighting planes are dumping water from the ocean on the Los Angeles fires, but using saltwater is typically a last resort.
For Those Deemed Trump’s Enemies, a Time of Anxiety and Fear (Michael S. Schmidt and Glenn Thrush, New York Times)
Donald Trump is returning to the White House vowing to seek retribution. Those in his sights are worried both about him —and his supporters.