Weird Islands

It's the last opinion day of the term, and the big one landed: Trump v. Barbara (scotusblog.com/cases/trump-v-barbara), the birthright-citizenship case. We read the majority as the rare easy case and spend most of the episode on why the four dissents each end up somewhere different — and trying to figure out exactly where they actually land. Along the way: a bogus Nina Totenberg story, a Landor (scotusblog.com/cases/landor-v-louisiana-depart…) GVR that might quietly unsettle a chunk of Spending Clause criminal law, and whether the professors who defended the order deserve the "legal scholarship police."
Highlights
• [00:00:27] The bogus Nina Totenberg wire story that Justice Alito was retiring — "Fake news, Dan."

• [00:02:03] The Justice Alito / Justice Sotomayor bench-dissent dust-up from the immigration hand-downs

• [00:03:11] Last opinion day — 3 opinions, 4 cases; NRSC v. FEC and West Virginia v. B.P.J. / Little v. Hecox flagged for later

• [00:05:27] A significant new grant teed up on possession of semi-automatic rifles (AR-15s)

• [00:06:43] A GVR in light of Landor in a federal arson case, and the narrow-vs-broad theory of what a GVR means

• [00:09:34] Whether Landor's narrowing of Sabri could upend a swath of Spending Clause federal criminal law

• [00:10:58] Why RLUIPA reaches prisoners — Chuck Colson's post-Watergate lobbying (courtesy of a listener, Emma Kaufman)

• [00:12:55] Trump v. Barbara — Trump loses, but closer than predicted: "Trump beats the spread"

• [00:15:25] Should professors who defended the order be punished? — "we don't need legal scholarship police"

• [00:19:58] The majority's walk: common law → Dred Scott → the 14th Amendment → Wong Kim Ark

• [00:26:21] Wong Kim Ark as linchpin, and whether its "domiciled here" language was doing any work

• [00:36:48] Justice Kavanaugh concurs in the judgment on the statute, then dispatches the constitutional question breezily

• [00:42:05] New states, Hawaii, and Living Originalism — when may you add new exceptions? "Weird islands you can't drive to"

• [00:48:33] The 91-page Justice Thomas dissent, the facial-challenge pivot, and the reserved domicile question

• [00:56:40] Justice Alito's Civil Rights Act / "not subject to any foreign power" reading, and the statelessness caveat

• [01:00:11] Justice Gorsuch's 3-page solo dissent: if not domiciled here, then where? — a jab Thomas may not share

• [01:05:33] Justice Jackson's anti-subordination concurrence, and whether it lands against Thomas

• [01:10:24] "I feel proud to be an American, Dan" — hail to the Chief, and to Justice Barrett; sign-off

Relevant links
Cases
• Trump v. Barbara (scotusblog.com/cases/trump-v-barbara) — slip opinion (supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-365_4hdj.pdf)

• Landor v. Louisiana Dept. of Corrections (scotusblog.com/cases/landor-v-louisiana-depart…) — slip opinion (supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/23-1197_h3ci.pdf)

• Sabri v. United States (supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/541/600) (2004)

• United States v. Wong Kim Ark (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wong_Ki…) (1898)

• NRSC v. FEC (scotusblog.com/cases/national-republican-senat…) — slip opinion (supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-621_h315.pdf)

• West Virginia v. B.P.J. (scotusblog.com/cases/west-virginia-v-b-p-j-2-2) / Little v. Hecox (scotusblog.com/cases/little-v-hecox) — slip opinion (supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-43_2b35.pdf)

Commentary & articles
• SCOTUSblog opinion recap: "Supreme Court strikes down Trump's order ending birthright citizenship" (scotusblog.com/2026/06/supreme-court-strikes-d…)

• Ilan Wurman & Randy Barnett's NYT essay defending the order (Minnesota Law summary) (law.umn.edu/news/2025-02-15-prof-ilan-wurman-c…)