Vox Sentences: Gun control in the crosshairs

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Gun rights question reaches the Supreme Court; Iraqi parliament accepts prime minister’s resignation.

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A gun case at SCOTUS

The Supreme Court heard its first gun case since 2010 on Monday — and one of the big questions is whether a decision was necessary at all since the regulations in question have already been rescinded. [Washington Post / Robert Barnes]
The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York, was a challenge to the city’s ban on gun owners transporting guns outside of their homes, a ban that seemed unlikely to be upheld. [SCOTUSblog / Amy Howe]
But while the case worked its way up to the high court, New York changed the rules, seemingly to try to avoid the Supreme Court ruling on the matter at all. [US News and World Report / Claire Hansen]
Based on the day’s oral arguments, a majority of the Court may be inclined to dismiss the case. But that won’t be the end of the larger issue. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]
The last Second Amendment case the Court heard was in 2010, in McDonald v. Chicago, which affirmed the landmark 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller ruling on the individual right to own a gun. [CNBC / Tucker Higgins]
Liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor were outspoken about dismissing the case while their conservative counterparts remained largely silent. “You are asking us to take a case where the other side has thrown in the towel,” remarked Sotomayor. [CNN / Ariane de Vogue]

Iraq’s prime minister resigns but protests continue

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s resignation was approved by parliament on Sunday. [Al Jazeera / Arwa Ibrahim]
Mahdi announced his plan to resign on Friday as anti-government protests against corruption continue to rage in the streets since October. He will stay on in an advisory capacity until new elections bring in his successor. [Vox / Catherine Kim]
The estimated death toll hovers around 400 and another 8,100 injured due to Iraqi security force attempts to put down protests about the condition of public services, unemployment, and foreign influence across the country. [BBC]
However, Mahdi’s resignation did not satisfy protesters, who continue to take to the streets on Sunday and demand greater reforms. [NPR / Jenny Gathright]

Miscellaneous

Trump wants South Korea to pay more for American military presence. Here’s what the demands are doing to US-South Korean relations. [The Hill / Michael O’Hanlon]
An Australian woman survived while stranded for nearly two weeks after crashing her car in a riverbed in the outback. [BBC]
How California is looking to fix batteries’ emissions problem. [Vox / David Roberts]
The lives of an Ohio high school graduating class of 2000 illustrates the pervasive and devastating effects of the opioid crisis. [New York Times / Dan Levin]
Illinois’s Metropolitan Planning Council released a new report aimed at evaluating the accessibility of the state’s public transit. [Chicago Tribune / Mary Wisniewski]