SCOTUS will hear arguments Wednesday on whether Oklahoma must execute Richard Glossip, who seeks a new trial in a murder case for which he has been on Death Row for 27 years. Meanwhile, SCOTUSblog's analysis of justices' questions in Tuesday's oral arguments over ghost guns indicates it is likely the court will uphold the Biden administration's 2022 ban on the weapons. Scroll down for details.

WEDNESDAY 10/9/24

Polling is Tight – Kamala Harris leads Donald J. Trump 48.5% to 45.9% in FiveThirtyEight’s latest average of national polls, “accounting for each poll’s recency, sample size, methodology and house effects,” while battleground-state polls are even less conclusive. Among those states, Vice President Harris leads in Nevada, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. Ex-President Trump leads in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Florida and Montana. Most leads on either side are within the margin of error, however.

Pennsylvania, the Big Kahuna of swing states, is even.

Meanwhile … Democrats are nervous, according to The Hill, which notes that in part that’s a natural state for the party. But the concerns include “grumbling” over Harris’ interview on CBS News 60 Minutes, concerns about static poll numbers (see above), her message – GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance has attacked Harris’ response on ABC-TV’s The View that she wouldn’t do anything differently in the last four years than President Biden – and her “standing” among not only white, but also Black and Hispanic men.

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Ghost of a Chance – The 2024-25 Supreme Court session is just underway, and it appears that in its first big case, a majority of justices appear ready to uphold a 2022 rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banning “ghost guns,” Amy Howe writes in Howe on the Court. The Supremes heard oral arguments Tuesday over ghost guns, which are defined as “unserialized, untraceable firearms.”

Howe’s blog was reposted by SCOTUSblog.

Attorney Peter Patterson, representing challengers of the ATF rule argued the bureau “exceeded its authority by operating outside the bounds set by Congress” in the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Arguing for the rule, US Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar said the “whole reason” for obtaining a ghost gun is if you are banned by law from owning a gun, or “you want to use that gun in a crime.”

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, at least one of whom would be necessary to overturn the ban, “appeared skeptical” of the arguments of the challengers’ attorney, Patterson, Howe writes.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa