December 15, 2025

In preparing for my most recent Supreme Court argument, I realized that I have something in common with the Court’s most conservative members. Like them, I do not believe there should be “second-class” constitutional rights subject to judicial balancing. If something is a right, it must be protected.

Unfortunately, our agreement appears to end there. While conservatives are concerned with protecting the Second Amendment, my concern lies with the right to vote being treated as an afterthought.

For years, it was generally understood that the “well regulated Militia” in the Second Amendment’s text referred to exactly that: a well regulated militia — not an individual’s desire to own a gun. As a result, the federal government as well as many states and local governments regulated gun ownership with that interpretation in mind...