Jake Charles
@jacobdcharles.bsky.social
Law prof, Pepperdine Law; Affiliated Scholar, Duke Center for Firearms Law. I write about constitutional law, especially the Second Amendment.
Bio: https://t.co/yVUcs14NoK
Papers: http://bit.ly/3HleQND
Bio: https://t.co/yVUcs14NoK
Papers: http://bit.ly/3HleQND
Remarkable that what historian Carl Becker said of Kansans in 1910 is likely true of many Americans still today: “The word socialism has a bad odor in Kansas, but the thing itself, by some other name, smells sweet enough.”
November 20, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Remarkable that what historian Carl Becker said of Kansans in 1910 is likely true of many Americans still today: “The word socialism has a bad odor in Kansas, but the thing itself, by some other name, smells sweet enough.”
Kinda want to ask the Westlaw editors how they decide how many times a single case can be abrogated! It's already quite dead.
November 19, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Kinda want to ask the Westlaw editors how they decide how many times a single case can be abrogated! It's already quite dead.
November 15, 2025 at 6:08 PM
What a fantastically enlightening time at the American Society for Legal History conference. Learning from so many smart folks, like @jedshug.bsky.social
@rachelshelden.bsky.social
@richardprimus.bsky.social
@narosenblum.bsky.social @janemanners.bsky.social
@beaubaumann.bsky.social
@rachelshelden.bsky.social
@richardprimus.bsky.social
@narosenblum.bsky.social @janemanners.bsky.social
@beaubaumann.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 10:13 PM
What a fantastically enlightening time at the American Society for Legal History conference. Learning from so many smart folks, like @jedshug.bsky.social
@rachelshelden.bsky.social
@richardprimus.bsky.social
@narosenblum.bsky.social @janemanners.bsky.social
@beaubaumann.bsky.social
@rachelshelden.bsky.social
@richardprimus.bsky.social
@narosenblum.bsky.social @janemanners.bsky.social
@beaubaumann.bsky.social
Another day toiling away in this trying atmosphere…
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Another day toiling away in this trying atmosphere…
This piece gets at what I was trying to say.
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/open-wide?...
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/open-wide?...
November 10, 2025 at 6:18 PM
This piece gets at what I was trying to say.
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/open-wide?...
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/open-wide?...
There was an unintentionally revealing moment in oral arguments earlier this Term in a case about a political candidate’s ability to challenge voting rules. Part of the GOP candidate’s arg relied on the notion that…Republicans typically make it harder to vote while Democrats make it easier…
November 9, 2025 at 1:19 AM
There was an unintentionally revealing moment in oral arguments earlier this Term in a case about a political candidate’s ability to challenge voting rules. Part of the GOP candidate’s arg relied on the notion that…Republicans typically make it harder to vote while Democrats make it easier…
Woke up in the mountain time zone, traveled home to teach in the pacific time zone, and now en route to the central time zone. Lots of traveling this time of year, but I had a blast speaking at ASU yesterday & am excited to head to the annual Con Law Colloquium at Loyola Chicago. ✈️✍️📖
November 6, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Woke up in the mountain time zone, traveled home to teach in the pacific time zone, and now en route to the central time zone. Lots of traveling this time of year, but I had a blast speaking at ASU yesterday & am excited to head to the annual Con Law Colloquium at Loyola Chicago. ✈️✍️📖
13th amendment says, whatttttttt
October 31, 2025 at 2:34 AM
13th amendment says, whatttttttt
NEW: In Rahimi, the Supreme Court said the 2nd Am lets govt disarm those found to be a credible threat, but left open whether other kinds of restraining orders permit disarmament under fed law. Yesterday, the 9th Cir said yes they do, at least on the facts here.
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
October 28, 2025 at 9:31 PM
NEW: In Rahimi, the Supreme Court said the 2nd Am lets govt disarm those found to be a credible threat, but left open whether other kinds of restraining orders permit disarmament under fed law. Yesterday, the 9th Cir said yes they do, at least on the facts here.
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...
Good example for those teaching legal ethics & particularly ABA Model Rule 3.3's requirement of candor to the tribunal.
Lawyers are ethically required to "correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer."
Lawyers are ethically required to "correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer."
October 27, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Good example for those teaching legal ethics & particularly ABA Model Rule 3.3's requirement of candor to the tribunal.
Lawyers are ethically required to "correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer."
Lawyers are ethically required to "correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer."
That's a lot of judges joining one opinion (which is really a dissent, though not styled as such).
October 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM
That's a lot of judges joining one opinion (which is really a dissent, though not styled as such).
Next, consider Hemani. The law there - 18 USC 922(g)(3) - is relatively rarely prosecuted. Fed law lists 9 grounds for disarmament &, acc. to the Sentencing Comm'n, 90% of prosecutions were for prior felony, leaving only 10% for all others combined, incl. drug users (www.ussc.gov/research/qui...).
October 22, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Next, consider Hemani. The law there - 18 USC 922(g)(3) - is relatively rarely prosecuted. Fed law lists 9 grounds for disarmament &, acc. to the Sentencing Comm'n, 90% of prosecutions were for prior felony, leaving only 10% for all others combined, incl. drug users (www.ussc.gov/research/qui...).
Like the 9th Circuit in a prior case, the court here applies a test that means only those laws that "meaningfully constrain" conduct protected by the 2A's plain text get const'l scrutiny, an approach I argued in my piece that courts should adopt in ancillary rights cases writ large.
October 20, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Like the 9th Circuit in a prior case, the court here applies a test that means only those laws that "meaningfully constrain" conduct protected by the 2A's plain text get const'l scrutiny, an approach I argued in my piece that courts should adopt in ancillary rights cases writ large.
NEW: Last week, the 2d Cir created a split w/ the 9th Cir by rejecting a 2nd Am challenge to NY's law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases, holding that the law doesn't sufficiently implicate Bruen's plain-text prong to require analyzing historical trad'n.
ag.ny.gov/sites/defaul...
ag.ny.gov/sites/defaul...
October 20, 2025 at 6:53 PM
NEW: Last week, the 2d Cir created a split w/ the 9th Cir by rejecting a 2nd Am challenge to NY's law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases, holding that the law doesn't sufficiently implicate Bruen's plain-text prong to require analyzing historical trad'n.
ag.ny.gov/sites/defaul...
ag.ny.gov/sites/defaul...
🚨The Supreme Court just granted review in a new Seocnd Amendment case out of Hawaii, asking whether the state can flip the property default rule for carrying guns on private property.
Here’s the petition: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
Here’s the petition: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
October 3, 2025 at 2:18 PM
🚨The Supreme Court just granted review in a new Seocnd Amendment case out of Hawaii, asking whether the state can flip the property default rule for carrying guns on private property.
Here’s the petition: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
Here’s the petition: www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
Hadn't noticed this before in Kavanaugh's Vasquez-Perdomo concurrence, but...is this not suggesting that the President, like Congress, possesses lawmaking power over immigration?
September 30, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Hadn't noticed this before in Kavanaugh's Vasquez-Perdomo concurrence, but...is this not suggesting that the President, like Congress, possesses lawmaking power over immigration?
Great to see the pieces from SMU L Rev's 2024 symposium on the 2nd Am now live!
My paper draws out lessons from the Court's 1987 decision in US v. Salerno for 2A doctrine--both its disfavoring of facial challenges *&* its focus on the very interests Bruen rejects.
scholar.smu.edu/smulr/vol78/...
My paper draws out lessons from the Court's 1987 decision in US v. Salerno for 2A doctrine--both its disfavoring of facial challenges *&* its focus on the very interests Bruen rejects.
scholar.smu.edu/smulr/vol78/...
September 26, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Great to see the pieces from SMU L Rev's 2024 symposium on the 2nd Am now live!
My paper draws out lessons from the Court's 1987 decision in US v. Salerno for 2A doctrine--both its disfavoring of facial challenges *&* its focus on the very interests Bruen rejects.
scholar.smu.edu/smulr/vol78/...
My paper draws out lessons from the Court's 1987 decision in US v. Salerno for 2A doctrine--both its disfavoring of facial challenges *&* its focus on the very interests Bruen rejects.
scholar.smu.edu/smulr/vol78/...
The court declines to decide whether 1791 or 1868 is the appropriate time period, but stresses that even if the former is the right time, later history matters bc Heller/Bruen used it & bc a "liquidation" model blesses it.
September 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
The court declines to decide whether 1791 or 1868 is the appropriate time period, but stresses that even if the former is the right time, later history matters bc Heller/Bruen used it & bc a "liquidation" model blesses it.
NEW: The 2d Cir upholds NY's public carrying licensing law against Second Amendment challenge, incl. the gun ban in Times Square & on subways, & the prohibition on carrying guns openly. In so doing, it clarifies that silence alone isn't enough to doom today's laws.
cases.justia.com/federal/appe...
cases.justia.com/federal/appe...
September 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
NEW: The 2d Cir upholds NY's public carrying licensing law against Second Amendment challenge, incl. the gun ban in Times Square & on subways, & the prohibition on carrying guns openly. In so doing, it clarifies that silence alone isn't enough to doom today's laws.
cases.justia.com/federal/appe...
cases.justia.com/federal/appe...
Just went you think you've seen all the *really out there* Second Amendment ideas out there, you run across one in quite another realm: "Heavy Touch Reporting Requirements Infringe On The Corporate Right To Bear Digital Arms"
www.compliancelawjournal.com/compliancela...
www.compliancelawjournal.com/compliancela...
September 22, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Just went you think you've seen all the *really out there* Second Amendment ideas out there, you run across one in quite another realm: "Heavy Touch Reporting Requirements Infringe On The Corporate Right To Bear Digital Arms"
www.compliancelawjournal.com/compliancela...
www.compliancelawjournal.com/compliancela...
Really enjoying this fascinating symposium at @dukelaw.bsky.social on historical facts & constitutional law, incl. this great panel w/ @kmtani.bsky.social, Christen Hammock Jones & Darrell Miller about choices in the compilation of historical records.
September 19, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Really enjoying this fascinating symposium at @dukelaw.bsky.social on historical facts & constitutional law, incl. this great panel w/ @kmtani.bsky.social, Christen Hammock Jones & Darrell Miller about choices in the compilation of historical records.
Re-upping this draft for the Monday crowd. Comments welcome!
September 15, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Re-upping this draft for the Monday crowd. Comments welcome!
📝I've uploaded a new draft to @ssrn.bsky.social that grew out of a panel before @sherifgirgis.bsky.social's excellent Dunwody lecture at UF this spring. In the paper, I analyze Trump v CASA as a window into the history & trad'n approach--& find some troubling signs.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
September 11, 2025 at 11:30 PM
📝I've uploaded a new draft to @ssrn.bsky.social that grew out of a panel before @sherifgirgis.bsky.social's excellent Dunwody lecture at UF this spring. In the paper, I analyze Trump v CASA as a window into the history & trad'n approach--& find some troubling signs.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Well that’s quite the push notification.
September 8, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Well that’s quite the push notification.