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What Do Bruen, Dobbs, and SFFA Have In Common?

The Supreme Court issued landmark rulings that were resisted by lower courts, and the Supreme Court refused to intervene.

Josh Blackman | 5.14.2026 11:49 PM

Randy Barnett and I are nearing completion of the Fifth Edition of our Constitutional Law casebook. We are still waiting for the last batch of cases from June to finalize a few chapters. Our last edition was published in 2021. Needless to say, a lot has changed, though much of the book remains the same. Still, this experience has reinforced the difference between how students are taught constitutional law, and how practitioners see it on the ground.

In the classroom, we read the landmark decisions that changed the law of the land: Bruen laid down a rigorous test to review gun control laws; Dobbs returned the abortion issue to the states; Students for Fair Admission all-but eliminated affirmative action; and so on. Students who read these decisions from 2022 and 2023 might get the sense that constitutional law changed overnight with respect to guns, abortion, and racial preferences. The reality, however, is far different.

Barely a year after Bruen, Rahimi walked back the "analogue" test. Gun laws have remained virtually unchanged. Blue states have allowed shall-issue carry regimes with many obstructions and burdens. Moreover, the Supreme Court has turned away every single case about the scope of sensitive places and the types of arms covered by the Second Amendment. The two cases argued this term (Hemani and Wolford) present fringe issues that will matter little to gun owners.

Ditto for affirmative action. In the wake of SFFA, the Court turned away Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence Corp. v. The School Committee For the City of Boston (2024). This case........

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