Gary pretty much covered it all, so I'll add a little bit, but keep it short so as not to be duplicative. Having read the decision (and nothing else), this is the best news we could have expected, even better actually, if it were not the decision we hoped for, but never expected to get. And if they wanted to "kick us in the teeth," they would have denied hearing the motion, never asked NY for their opinion, and denied to hear the actual case when Antontyuk appealed (presuming he lost the actual case at Second Circuit).
Instead, in no particular order, SCOTUS:
--Made NYS tip their hand on the arguments they will bring up.
--Told the Second Circuit (and all other appeals courts) exactly what they wanted them to do and then left them enough room to do it (far more powerful and better for us than a simple interlocutory motion).
--Told them to hurry up.
-- Showed us they are watching both Sinatra cases in the western district whose motions were NOT appealed to SCOTUS. This goes to point #2 above.
--Like Suddaby in the northern district when he rejected the first TRO on standing and again in the TRO he actually issued, practically gave the good guys F'ing runway lights on how to bring this thing in.
--Had the opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, THE GREATEST JUDGE ON THE SUPREME COURT, who wrote the McDonald decision that made Heller apply to the States, and concurred by Justice Thomas the SECOND GREATEST JUSTICE ON THE SUPREME COURT, and author of the Bruen decision. There is literally no one better on this issue in the entire country than those two.
While a ruling in your favor is always good, this has far greater long time better consequences for us than an unprecedented Hail Mary no one expected to get anyway. And this is happening in the context of far more higher quality rulings in favor of the 2A and in a shorter period of time than ever before in our lifetimes and US history for that matter.
