THIS MOOTNESS OPINION IS A DODGE: Opinion analysis: Court sends New York Second Amendment case back to lower courts without ruling on the merits. “Justice Samuel Alito dissented from today’s decision, in a 31-page opinion that was joined in full by Justice Neil Gorsuch and in large part by Justice Clarence Thomas. Alito was sharply critical of the decision to dismiss the case as moot, arguing that his colleagues were allowing ‘our docket to be manipulated in a way that should not be countenanced.'”