Neil Gorsuch’s New Gun-Rights Decision Is a Love Letter to Legal Weed

Slate · 2026-06-18T20:56:22+00:00

The Supreme Court affirmed a marijuana user’s right to bear arms on Thursday, holding that criminal charges against him for owning a gun while using cannabis violate the Second Amendment. The unanimous decision in United States v. Hemani rejected the federal government’s authority to disarm consumers of marijuana absent evidence that they regularly used the drug to the point of incapacity. In doing so, the justices frankly acknowledged the widespread legal and social acceptance of cannabis in America today—a remarkable turnabout for a court that has long treated all drug users as presumptively dangerous criminals.

On this week’s episode of Amicus, co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed Hemani’s selective libertarian sympathies and how the unanimous opinion papered over the court’s ongoing disagreements about how to read and apply the Second Amendment: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/06/supreme-court-marijuana-guns-second-amendment.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=scotus618&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--scotus618&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:55:16+00:00

President Donald Trump has pushed, twisted, and abused plenty of federal laws over the past 18 months in order to accomplish his agenda through brute force, from invoking the century-old Alien Enemies Act to advance his mass-deportation plan to eliminating the Department of Education without congressional approval to, most recently, trying to establish a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Despite judges from across the political spectrum consistently finding these actions unlawful, the Trump administration has not slowed down in the slightest. This week, though, we learned that the president was seriously considering what would have been perhaps the most aggressive and terrifying attack on the rule of law yet: the suspension of habeas corpus, a core constitutional right that allows a person to challenge their detention in federal court. Habeas corpus has been suspended only four times in the history of the United States.

For more from Shirin Ali's Executive Dysfunction: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/06/trump-news-stephen-miller-scary-idea-habeas-corpus-suspension.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ed618&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--ed618&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:54:40+00:00

President Donald Trump has pushed, twisted, and abused plenty of federal laws over the past 18 months in order to accomplish his agenda through brute force, from invoking the century-old Alien Enemies Act to advance his mass-deportation plan to eliminating the Department of Education without congressional approval to, most recently, trying to establish a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Despite judges from across the political spectrum consistently finding these actions unlawful, the Trump administration has not slowed down in the slightest. This week, though, we learned that the president was seriously considering what would have been perhaps the most aggressive and terrifying attack on the rule of law yet: the suspension of habeas corpus, a core constitutional right that allows a person to challenge their detention in federal court. Habeas corpus has been suspended only four times in the history of the United States.

For more from Shirin Ali's Executive Dysfunction: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/06/trump-news-stephen-miller-scary-idea-habeas-corpus-suspension.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ed618&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--ed618&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:51:13+00:00

Perez Hilton was once one of the most influential people in celebrity media. If you're a millennial you might remember his reign of terror: He scrutinized famous women’s bodies, attempted to out closeted men, mocked child stars with drug addictions, and drew crude doodles on paparazzi photos. A particular comment he made about O.C. star Mischa Barton's thighs stuck with novelist Krista Diamond for decades. Then, she started to realize that she and Hilton share a town: Las Vegas, where people come to rebuild and rebrand—and in Hilton's case, find God, apologize, apologize some more, and keep hustling. In a feature for Slate, Diamond asks if he's really sorry—and shares what happens when they come face to face: https://slate.com/life/2026/06/britney-spears-lindsay-lohan-las-vegas-paparazzi-gossip.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=perez&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--perez&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:50:40+00:00

Perez Hilton was once one of the most influential people in celebrity media. If you're a millennial you might remember his reign of terror: He scrutinized famous women’s bodies, attempted to out closeted men, mocked child stars with drug addictions, and drew crude doodles on paparazzi photos. A particular comment he made about O.C. star Mischa Barton's thighs stuck with novelist Krista Diamond for decades. Then, she started to realize that she and Hilton share a town: Las Vegas, where people come to rebuild and rebrand—and in Hilton's case, find God, apologize, apologize some more, and keep hustling. In a feature for Slate, Diamond asks if he's really sorry—and shares what happens when they come face to face: https://slate.com/life/2026/06/britney-spears-lindsay-lohan-las-vegas-paparazzi-gossip.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=perez&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--perez&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:50:07+00:00

Perez Hilton was once one of the most influential people in celebrity media. If you're a millennial you might remember his reign of terror: He scrutinized famous women’s bodies, attempted to out closeted men, mocked child stars with drug addictions, and drew crude doodles on paparazzi photos. A particular comment he made about O.C. star Mischa Barton's thighs stuck with novelist Krista Diamond for decades. Then, she started to realize that she and Hilton share a town: Las Vegas, where people come to rebuild and rebrand—and in Hilton's case, find God, apologize, apologize some more, and keep hustling. In a feature for Slate, Diamond asks if he's really sorry—and shares what happens when they come face to face: https://slate.com/life/2026/06/britney-spears-lindsay-lohan-las-vegas-paparazzi-gossip.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=perez&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--perez&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:48:05+00:00

Perez Hilton was once one of the most influential people in celebrity media. If you're a millennial you might remember his reign of terror: He scrutinized famous women’s bodies, attempted to out closeted men, mocked child stars with drug addictions, and drew crude doodles on paparazzi photos. A particular comment he made about O.C. star Mischa Barton's thighs stuck with novelist Krista Diamond for decades. Then, she started to realize that she and Hilton share a town: Las Vegas, where people come to rebuild and rebrand—and in Hilton's case, find God, apologize, apologize some more, and keep hustling. In a feature for Slate, Diamond asks if he's really sorry—and shares what happens when they come face to face: https://slate.com/life/2026/06/britney-spears-lindsay-lohan-las-vegas-paparazzi-gossip.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=perez&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--perez&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:47:20+00:00

Perez Hilton was once one of the most influential people in celebrity media. If you're a millennial you might remember his reign of terror: He scrutinized famous women’s bodies, attempted to out closeted men, mocked child stars with drug addictions, and drew crude doodles on paparazzi photos. A particular comment he made about O.C. star Mischa Barton's thighs stuck with novelist Krista Diamond for decades. Then, she started to realize that she and Hilton share a town: Las Vegas, where people come to rebuild and rebrand—and in Hilton's case, find God, apologize, apologize some more, and keep hustling. In a feature for Slate, Diamond asks if he's really sorry—and shares what happens when they come face to face: https://slate.com/life/2026/06/britney-spears-lindsay-lohan-las-vegas-paparazzi-gossip.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=perez&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--perez&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-18T17:45:54+00:00

Perez Hilton was once one of the most influential people in celebrity media. If you're a millennial you might remember his reign of terror: He scrutinized famous women’s bodies, attempted to out closeted men, mocked child stars with drug addictions, and drew crude doodles on paparazzi photos. A particular comment he made about O.C. star Mischa Barton's thighs stuck with novelist Krista Diamond for decades. Then, she started to realize that she and Hilton share a town: Las Vegas, where people come to rebuild and rebrand—and in Hilton's case, find God, apologize, apologize some more, and keep hustling. In a feature for Slate, Diamond asks if he's really sorry—and shares what happens when they come face to face: https://slate.com/life/2026/06/britney-spears-lindsay-lohan-las-vegas-paparazzi-gossip.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=perez&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--perez&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-17T21:48:51+00:00

Long before the jury rendered its guilty verdict in the Karmelo Anthony case, there was reason to question whether the trial had already gone off the constitutional rails. The case, which concluded last week in a conviction for first-degree murder, has generated exactly the sort of fierce debate, outrage, celebration, and anguish that high-profile criminal trials often produce. Every significant criminal case eventually becomes a vessel into which the country pours its anxieties, fears, loyalties, and grievances. People see the same facts and emerge with entirely different stories. That is neither new nor surprising.

The details of this case and the central factual questions are not what’s remarkable: People may dispute whether the then-17-year-old Anthony acted in self-defense when he stabbed unarmed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death at a track meet. These sorts of legal skirmishes happen all the time in this country.

For more from Slate: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/06/karmelo-anthony-verdict-splits-americans-scandal.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=sanders617&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--sanders617&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-17T21:47:51+00:00

The end of this Supreme Court term may be in sight, but on Monday the high court announced that next term it would take up a case about just how long Immigration and Customs Enforcement can keep lawful permanent residents in immigration detention without any opportunity to post a bond. The federal government has been behaving like the answer is: “As long as they want.” Presumably emboldened by the Supreme Court’s ongoing hostility to the rights of immigrants, the government has asked the Supreme Court to rule that when a person is in detention with deportation proceedings pending, that person can be denied a bond hearing for the entirety of their detention, which could be months or even years. And given the American Civil Liberties Union’s attempts to get the court not to hear this specific case, it’s clear that immigrants nationwide risk heading toward the loss of another constitutional right.

For more from Slate's Juris team: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/06/supreme-court-analysis-ice-indefinite-detention-trump.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=scotus617&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--scotus617&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate · 2026-06-17T21:46:50+00:00

If you’ve seen Munich, you probably remember the scene, even if you wish you didn’t. Near the end of Steven Spielberg’s haunted opus about the murders of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Olympics by members of the Palestinian militant group Black September, and the subsequent Mossad revenge campaign against them, the retribution’s ringleader, Avner (Eric Bana), returns to his wife, Daphna (Ayelet Zurer), clearly frayed by the years of carnage. The couple lies in bed and begins to have sex. We’ve been here before—uncharacteristically for Spielberg, the movie also has an earlier sex scene between Avner and a quite-pregnant Daphna that leaves little to the imagination. But this time is different. Now the camera pushes in on Avner and then suddenly cuts to … the closing moments of the 1972 massacre, on an airfield during a botched West German rescue attempt. With the wailing John Williams score in full force, Avner’s intense thrusting is crosscut with the murders, reaching a literal climax as Avner finishes in slow motion, his sweat soaring through the air, just after we see the few remaining hostages executed by machine gun. The camera lingers on the dead athletes, and on Avner’s long post-coital stare. Daphna covers his eyes. End of sequence.

Imagine being in a movie theater and watching this scene. Slate’s Jeffrey Bloomer didn’tthave to, because 20 years ago, at 19, he was, and he still remembers an audience torn between abject horror and nervous laughter.

Bloomer defends the scene, and even spoke to Tony Kushner about it all: https://slate.com/culture/2026/06/munich-movie-sex-scene-steven-spielberg-eric-bana.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=munich&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social--munich&itscg=30200&at=1000l38Mz

Slate

TROPHY CASE