Supreme Court Rules on Guns, Immigration, and Liability

The U.S. Supreme Court closed out its 2025-2026 term on June 25 with a flurry of landmark decisions that will reshape American law on gun rights, immigration enforcement, and corporate accountability. In four separate rulings — all decided along ideological lines by the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority — the justices struck down Hawaii’s “vampire rules” on gun ownership, upheld the Trump administration’s authority to turn away asylum seekers at the border, cleared the way for mass deportations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and shielded Monsanto from thousands of state-level lawsuits over its Roundup weed killer.

Gun Rights: Hawaii’s ‘Vampire Rules’ Struck Down

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot require gun owners to obtain advance permission from property owners before bringing firearms onto private land, as NPR reported. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the conservative majority, declared that such “vampire rules” — so named because Bram Stoker’s Dracula could not enter a home unless invited — “hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives.”

The ruling affects five states — Hawaii, California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey — that had enacted laws requiring gun owners to get explicit permission before carrying firearms onto private property. The decision stems from the court’s landmark 2022 Bruen decision, which established that gun regulations must be “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” According to an analysis by scholars at SMU, the Brennan Center, and the RAND Corporation, nearly 100 gun laws were successfully challenged in the year following Bruen.

Immigration: Asylum Seekers Can Be Turned Away at the Border

By another 6-3 vote, the court ruled that federal law permits the government to stop asylum seekers from physically entering the United States, effectively preventing them from applying for asylum, as NPR detailed. Writing again for the majority, Justice Alito held that asylum seekers who are turned away at the border have not “arrived in” the country, meaning legal protections for asylum applicants have not yet taken effect.

The Obama administration first attempted this policy, but lower courts blocked it. The Trump administration revived the approach, arguing that the lower court’s ruling “deprives the Executive Branch of a critical tool for addressing border surges.” Dissenting, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that speaking with Border Patrol agents is effectively the first step in “arriving in” the U.S.

TPS Deportations: Green Light for Removing Haitians and Syrians

In perhaps the most consequential immigration ruling of the day, the court held 6-3 that the president has virtually unrestrained power to end the Temporary Protected Status program, with no judicial review available, according to NPR’s Nina Totenberg. The decision affects approximately 350,000 Haitians and roughly 3,800 to 6,100 Syrians who have been living and working legally in the United States — many for years or even decades.

Justice Alito, writing for the majority, rejected claims that the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation was based on racial prejudice, stating that political discourse, however harsh, was “insufficient to show that the termination of Haiti’s TPS designations was based on the race of the Haitian people.” In a blistering dissent, Justice Elena Kagan cited President Trump’s own statements — including his reference to Haiti as a “s***hole country” and his debunked claims about Haitians eating pets — arguing that “the evidence is there, plain to see in the president’s own statements.”

Jeh Johnson, who served as Homeland Security Secretary under President Obama, told NPR: “The majority seems to be willing to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt here, although they’re not overtly racist, it comes about as close as you can to being racist.” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, CEO of Global Refuge, noted that a third of the affected Haitians work in the U.S. healthcare sector. The House has passed a bill to extend TPS for Haitians, but President Trump would likely veto it. Four remaining TPS countries — El Salvador, Lebanon, Sudan, and Ukraine — may lose their designations when they come up for renewal in fall 2026.

Corporate Liability: Monsanto Shielded from Roundup Lawsuits

In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) expressly preempts state law failure-to-warn claims against Monsanto regarding glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, as NPR’s Carrie Johnson reported. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority that because the plaintiff’s state tort claim would impose a labeling requirement “in addition to or different from” the label approved by the EPA, FIFRA preempts the claim.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, arguing that the court “misunderstands FIFRA’s requirements, misinterprets the scope of FIFRA’s preemption, and ultimately leaves Durnell without a remedy for the significant harms he has suffered.” Bayer CEO Bill Anderson welcomed the decision, saying it “provides the regulatory clarity necessary for innovators like us to develop the agricultural tools that guarantee an affordable food supply.” The ruling could significantly narrow Monsanto’s liability in tens of thousands of pending lawsuits.

Analysis: A Term That Expanded Executive Power

Taken together, the four rulings represent a significant expansion of executive branch authority. In immigration, border control, and deference to federal agency determinations, the court consistently sided with the Trump administration. The TPS ruling, in particular, effectively eliminates judicial review of presidential decisions to end humanitarian protections — a significant shift in the separation of powers.

The gun ruling continues the court’s reliance on historical analysis as the primary test for constitutional rights, a methodology that has proven controversial and difficult for lower courts to apply consistently. Meanwhile, the Monsanto case establishes a strong federal preemption framework that could affect other product liability cases beyond pesticides.

What to Watch For

As the legal dust settles, several questions remain. Will the remaining TPS countries lose their designations this fall? How will lower courts apply the new gun ruling to other state-level restrictions? Can Congress pass legislation to codify TPS protections or override the Monsanto ruling? And with public approval of the Supreme Court declining — 58% of Americans now disapprove, up from 52% in 2024 — the political fallout from this term’s decisions may reverberate well into the 2026 midterm elections.”