Welcome to Supreme Court Brief. My name is Jimmy Hoover, and I am the high court correspondent for the National Law Journal and Law.com. Over the next nine months while the justices are sitting, this newsletter will provide the sophisticated Supreme Court watcher with the latest argument recaps, opinion analysis and attorney spotlights from my vantage inside the courtroom. On Tuesday, the justices heard arguments over whether a Biden administration rule curbing an "explosion" of ghost guns violates the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Following an hour-and-a-half-long hearing, the court appears likely to say "no" and leave in place a regulation that would subject the sale of online firearm kits to the same requirements as other guns; that means online sellers will likely need federal licenses, conduct background checks of customers, maintain sales records and include serial numbers on their products. I covered the hearing for the National Law Journal here. Today's Brief looks at the lengths the Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer went through to prepare for the argument.