A court trapped in amber

The Supreme Court in United States v. Rahimi rejected the idea that the Second Amendment is 'trapped in amber,' a metaphor now widely used in constitutional law. The phrase originated in 1974 with Justice Thurgood Marshall's dissent in Richardson v. Ramirez but has since been adopted by conservative justices like Neil Gorsuch. The metaphor challenges the notion of fixed legal principles, reflecting a shift toward living constitutionalism.