[Red in Blue PA]

According to Easterbrook, the Revolution was fought and independence won so that the Founding Fathers could write a Constitution with a Bill of Rights that applied only to the District of Columbia.

If ever a man was beggin for a lobotomy, it is this man!

[Repeal The 17th]

“If ever a man was beggin for a lobotomy, it is this man! “
-
I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

[mad_as_he$$]

Sorry but there legal theory and precedent that he is right. “Incorporation” is a real thing in law and where you agree with it or not it is at the root of many gun rights (and others) argument.We could easily wind up with the Bill of Rights applying ONLY to DC and other Federal possessions.

[The Pack Knight]

That's a bit unfair to Judge Easterbrook. He was, after all, bound to follow Supreme Court precedent on the issue. The existing cases did not support incorporation of the right to keep and bear arms into the 14th Amendment, and Heller specifically did not address that issue.

It wasn't Easterbrook who said the Bill of Rights didn't apply to the States. It was John Marshall (who, last I checked, was considered a Founding Father), in Barron v. Baltimore. Barron v. Baltimore is still the law, and the only way any part of the Bill of Rights applies to the states is through the 14th Amendment, which the Supreme Court has repeatedly held does not incorporate the entire Bill of Rights.

It wasn't Judge Easterbrook's place to ignore Supreme Court precedent and incorporate new rights into the 14th Amendment, nor was it his place to anticipate what the Supreme Court might have to say on the subject. That's the sort of thing the 9th Circuit does. He did his job.