It turns out that New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York was not a watershed Second Amendment decision. That much-discussed case concerned a New York City prohibition on the transportation of firearms outside the city. After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and before oral argument, state and city laws were changed to permit individuals to transport firearms. These changes in the law rendered moot a case that many observers believed could provide the court an opportunity to expand upon its Second Amendment doctrine in favor of gun rights advocates.

Not surprisingly, Senator Mitch McConnell has announced that President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will, at least initially, be bare-bones. McConnell has proposed opening statements from the House impeachment managers and lawyers representing the president, with questions from senators through the Chief Justice. At least at the start, there will be no witness testimony—though a majority of the Senate could later vote to allow both testimony and new evidence. Though this format may not be the kind of proceeding the framers of the Constitution contemplated when they assigned to the Senate the responsibility to try impeachments, it still presents the opportunity for the House to make the case against Trump—to the Senate and, more importantly, to the American people.

As reported in the New York Times, the judge overseeing the military tribunal of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the four other suspects believed to have designed and organized the September 11 attacks has set a trial date of January 2021. Although there have been numerous court hearings for these five suspects since they arrived at Guantanamo, there have also been numerous delays, and this ruling marks the first time that an actual date has been set for the trial to begin.