Wisconsin Right Now

The Bruen decision struck down a New York law that limited who could carry concealed weapons outside the home. The U.S. Supreme Court has expanded gun rights in a major decision that struck down a New York law that restricted concealed carry outside the home by limiting it to those who could show unique self-defense circumstances. The Court found that such a subjective test violated the U.S. Constitution. "The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not 'a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'" the Supreme Court wrote in its June 23, 2022, decision. The Bruen decision was authored by Justice Clarence Thomas. He was joined by Justices Sam Alito, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. You can read the court's decision here. The court held, "New York’s proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing la...

Justice Brian Hagedorn was the deciding vote in the four to three ruling. The other three conservative justices dissented, deciding the stay should have been lifted. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes will be allowed for the spring primary election. In a 4-3 ruling, the court ruled drop boxes must be allowed for the Feb. 15 primary in order to avoid confusion—as absentee ballots were already mailed out to voters, some with instructions indicating voters could use drop boxes. The court also agreed to hear an expedited appeal of the case to rule on the legality of absentee ballot drop boxes for future elections in Wisconsin. According to Wisconsin Public Radio , Hagedorn explained that it was too close to an election to change the rules for voting, saying, "Whether the circuit court's decision to deny a stay constituted an erroneous exercise of discretion or not, further judicial relief would be inappropriate at this time." ...