In November, when the Supreme Court considered the viability of that dodge, Justice Brett Kavanaugh cut to the heart of the matter, asking Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone about “the implications of your position for other constitutional rights.” What if a state passed a law that says “everyone who sells an AR-15 is liable for a million dollars to any citizen,” Kavanaugh asked. “Would that kind of law be exempt from pre-enforcement review in federal court?”

Stone conceded that his argument meant it would. His answer, he said, “does not turn on the nature of the right.”

In other words, Kavanaugh said, “Second Amendment rights, free exercise of religion rights, free speech rights” could all “be targeted by other states” using the Texas abortion law as a model. “You also said that the amount of the penalty doesn’t matter,” Kavanaugh added. “A state passes a law [that says] anyone who declines to provide a good or service for use in a same-sex marriage [is liable for] a million dollars if sued by anyone in the state—that’s exempt from pre-enforcement review?”

Stone was clear: “Yes, Your Honor.”