This is CBS, I On the World. I'm John Bachelor, welcoming Professor Richard Epstein, teaches law at NYU in the University of Chicago, writing most recently for the Civitas Institute, Civitas Outlook. We're looking at the Supreme Court very closely with burning headlines. Washington Post, Supreme Court

unanimously blocks Mexico's lawsuit against U.S. gunmakers subhead. Mexico claims that U.S. firearm

manufacturers know their guns are trafficked into the country, and that they intentionally target the Mexican market,

including drug cartels.

Richard, a very good evening to you.

As I understand, the key word here in this headline is unanimously.

Why?

What is the surprise or what is at this point an explication for that word?

Good evening to you.

Yes, well, I think the explanation is the

traditional account of the Supreme Court is that it had a very powerful six to be split, or more

accurately a three three split, and where the middle three were more often conservative than

liberal. Now you get three cases in a row in which the liberals basically are on the same side as the

conservative and it turns out they all vote conservatively on all the issues and i think that's a

pretty accurate coding of what's going on and the very hard question to figure out why are they doing

all this is there a change in heart it can't related to Trump. It's got to be related to

something else. Or what? And the best explanation that I can put up, at least with respect to the Mexico,

okay, is that what you're seeing here is an effort to extend liability far beyond its natural

contours. If you were treating this as though it was simple common law case. It is very clear that

you can have a action for what we call negligent entrustment. And what that means is I take a gun

and I have this little giant who's nine years old and slightly unbalanced. I load the gun and I give

it to him and he goes and he shoots somebody else. And everybody says that the entrustment of a weapon to somebody else who's likely to use it immediately does generate a form of liability.

...