WASHINGTON − Gun control advocates had been cautiously optimistic the Supreme Court would uphold Biden administration rules to regulate otherwise untraceable “ghost guns.” But despite the justices sounding in last month’s oral arguments as if they ...

Although the Supreme Court’s formal power comes from Article III of the U.S. Constitution, its real power comes from public support for the court as an institution. The court depends upon the elected branches for everything from its budget to its building to its calendar and its statutory authority to hear almost all of the cases that it decides.