Oh, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s what we have to live with.

Jefferson advocated for throwing everything out and starting over every 19 years, that would have been interesting.

https://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/thomas-jefferson-on-whether-the-american-constitution-is-binding-on-those-who-were-not-born-at-the-time-it-was-signed-and-agreed-to-1789

“Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right.”

So, two years before the Bill of Rights. If Jefferson had his way, the 2nd Amendment (and everything else) would have expired in 1810 and would have had to be renewed then and another 11 times since then.

But Jefferson didn’t get his way and here we are!

It does, it’s been getting more conservative since 2008.

Here’s the breakdown:

2008 - Heller - Self defense is the core component of the 2nd Amendment, you can’t require safe storage, ban entire classes of weapons, or require militia membership.

2010 - McDonald - Heller applies to States as well (Heller was a Washington D.C. ruling so clarity was needed to show it applied to the states.

2016 - Caetano - 2nd Amendment applies to bearable weapons that did not exist when the 2nd Amendment was written. This one is fascinating. MA tried to charge a woman for buying a stun gun to protect herself from a violent ex. MA argued “stun guns didn’t exist, so 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply.” Supreme Court shot that down.

2022 - Bruen - Carrying a gun for self defense is a fundamental right and states cannot require “special need” to exercise it. Bonus - court also ruled that future gun laws need to show historical precedent or be struck down.

Bruen is going to be key in future gun cases. This court will have some super unpopular rulings in the pipeline.

Yup, that’s a problem and it’s only getting MORE conservative, not less.

Adding term limits would require an Amendment which can’t be done for the same reason changing the 2nd can’t be done, the vote hurdle is too high.

Packing the court isn’t the answer, because the next president of the opposing party would just re-pack it the other way.

So the only thing that can be done is make sure Biden wins in '24, and the Dems win in '28 and hope that by '32 Thomas and Alito have aged out. Thomas will be 84 in '32 and Alito will be 82.

If they’re still hanging on, then it’s a matter of voting D until they’re gone.

Because if Trump or another R is in office when they leave, you can forget changing the composition of the court in our lifetime.