“Guns, Judges, and Trump”

The title of this post is the title of this notabe new article authored by Rebecca Brown, Lee Epstein and Mitu Gulati. Here is its abstract:

This Essay reports data on the impact of Bruen and its predecessor, Heller, on gun rights cases.  Put mildly, the impact was significant, increasing not only the number of cases in the courts but also the partisanship displayed in the application of Bruen.  And that partisanship increase was particularly large on the part of Trump-appointed judges. The Supreme Court has now decided Rahimi, its first opportunity to apply Bruen.  While the Court’s new decision blunted some of the sharpest concerns raised by Bruen, it did not eliminate the key concern, recommitting itself to a test that places considerable unguided discretion in judges, inviting partisan bias.  Thus, the revolution that the Court has wrought through Bruen and Heller seems only to have just begun.