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The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it plans to hear the next major gun rights case, a move that will decide whether the Second Amendment can invalidate state laws and municipal ordinances. A 5-4 Supreme Court decision last year did say that the U.S. Constitution protects an individual right to own a handgun. But the majority opinion never concluded that the Second Amendment applied to states; it didn't say what kind of laws beyond a flat ban are acceptable or unacceptable; it didn't even say what kind of standards lower courts should apply when evaluating anti-gun laws. One...

Focusing on gun, politics, and news of interest, here is today's Second Amendment News Roundup...

When all was said and done, the majority in Wong Kim Ark reveals their true nonsensical position: “To hold that the Fourteenth Amendment of the constitution excludes from citizenship the children born in the United States of citizens or subjects of other countries, would be to deny citizenship to thousands of persons of English, Scotch, Irish, German, or other European parentage, who have always been considered and treated as citizens of the United States.� Well now, the issue was not citizenship being withheld on account of the 14th Amendment to American citizens, and had the court bothered to consider the...

That woman just brought me to tears, and that's not easy.

Every FReeper needs to listen to this. A mom. Passionate. One of the best callers to Rush. Maybe ever.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Constitution puts limits on state gun regulations, the second phase of the justices' re-examination of weapons rights in the 21st century. Last year, the court ruled that the Second Amendment includes an individual right to self-defense, and struck down a Washington, D.C., ordinance that effectively banned possession of handguns within the capital city. That decision rested on the District of Columbia's status as a federal enclave and left unanswered what the amendment means for states. Supporters of gun control say states are free to set their own weapons laws as...

Breaking on WLS Talk Radio. SCOTUS has agreed to hear the NRA case against the Chicago handgun ban.

.. and the fruitloops just keep getting jucier and jucier! Of course this was posted on an Obot’s website. You can google it if you want. I will not give credence to this website but I will darn sure explain that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is wrong! Justice Ginsburg: My grandson was born in Paris of U.S. citizen parents. I had never considered him a naturalized citizen of the United States. Justice Ginsburg again: There is a debate over whether my grandson is a natural born citizen. I think he is. Ruth, grow up and take your collective head out of...

Last week in Cook County, Illinois, Derrion Albert, 16, was murdered after being in the wrong place at the wrong time as a gang fight broke out. What a tragic death for a kid who had a promising future. As a father, my heart goes out to his family - I couldn't even imagine what they must be going through. Unfortunately, Derrion wasn't the only black child killed last week in Cook County - an estimated 159 unborn children of color were also murdered last week - not by street gangs, but by gangs of doctors and nurses.[1] Like Derrion,...

This week, we revisit the issue of race in the US, as it remains a hot topic here for the second week running. No wise man should touch America’s dirty secret unless he is forced to by severe provocation and there is no way out. The outburst by South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson in the combined houses of Congress, and his uncalled for remark aimed at President Barack Obama: “You lie,” has brought the dirty secret out into the public. In my case, Brother Boston sought to refute my remarks by arguing that my very successful career in the US...

One of the Supreme Court‘s “inventions� used to impose its will upon the people unknown to those who framed and ratified our Constitution, are various tests the court has created which are now used to subjugate and overcome the documented intentions and beliefs under which the various provisions of our Constitution have been adopted. These “tests� began to appear and gain a foothold during the Warren Court of the l960’s. One such test was the "rationality" test under which a law being challenged had to withstand the court’s judgment that the law in question was “rationally based� or “reasonable� to...

Next week, the Supreme Court will begin its 2009 term, secure in the knowledge that it remains almost completely misunderstood by the American public. A Gallup poll conducted this month showed the court's current approval rating to be higher than it's been in a decade: As of now, 61 percent of Americans approve of the high court's performance. Last year, that number was slumping at 50 percent. Fifty percent of Americans currently believe the court is neither too liberal nor too conservative; that's up from 43 percent last year. And the number of Americans who believe the court is too...

LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Americans must pay attention to challenges to democracy today just as Abraham Lincoln did by fiercely opposing slavery, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a conference on the 16th president's legacy Friday night. "We are part of something far greater than ourselves," Thomas told more than 300 people at Washington and Lee University. Many in Lincoln's time didn't realize the threat that slavery posed to the principles on which the nation was founded, Thomas said. "What a miserable job he had. He wasn't popular," Thomas said, "but he did what was right." Thomas received a standing...

Update. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to the Washington Hospital Center Thursday after falling ill at the Supreme Court. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Ginsburg fell ill after receiving an intravenous iron therapy. Arberg said Ginsburg felt better after being attended by a physician at the court, but was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Ginsburg's health has been a concern since the 76-year-old justice was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year. In February, doctors removed her spleen and a tiny tumor on her pancreas. Ginsburg said the operation was a complete success, and that she was...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after feeling ill at work.

Indonesia Left to Right: Lolo Soetoro, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, baby Maya Soetoro, and 9 year old Barry Soetoro This registration document, made available on Jan. 24, 2007, by the Fransiskus Assisi school in Jakarta, Indonesia, shows the registration of Barack Obama under the name Barry Soetoro made by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro. Name: Barry Soetoro Religion: ..... Islam Nationality: ..... Indonesian How did little INDONESIAN, Barry Soetoro, (A.K.A. Barack Obama) get around the issue of nationality to become president? Someone who tells lies is a L __ __ r?

Nothing further

For years, many of us in the blogosphere have argued that the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, better known as McCain-Feingold, violates the fundamental Constitutional exercise of free speech, especially in politics, which the founders expressly intended to protect. The Supreme Court failed in its duty to protect the First Amendment when it had the chance, as did George W. Bush when he signed the legislation into law. Finally, a federal appellate court has recognized the insult to the Constitution that the BCRA represents: A federal appeals court overturned hard-fought campaign finance reform regulations in a ruling on Friday that will...

WASHINGTON – Independent advocacy groups will be able to spend more money to try to influence federal elections under a decision Friday from a federal appeals court that overturned rules limiting nonprofits' campaign spending. Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington agreed with Emily's List, a nonprofit that backs women Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, that the regulations limited free speech rights. The Federal Election Commission enacted the rules in 2005, after concerns were raised about the amount of unlimited "soft money" contributions used to fund attacks in the 2004 election. The FEC said nonprofits would...

WASHINGTON -- In her maiden Supreme Court appearance last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a provocative comment that probed the foundations of corporate law. During arguments in a campaign-finance case, the court's majority conservatives seemed persuaded that corporations have broad First Amendment rights and that recent precedents upholding limits on corporate political spending should be overruled. But Justice Sotomayor suggested the majority might have it all wrong -- and that instead the court should reconsider the 19th century rulings that first afforded corporations the same rights flesh-and-blood people have. Judges "created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons,"...

Federal Powers: Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the government can force people to buy health insurance? And by what authority does it prohibit the purchasing of insurance across state lines?A key part of the administration's plan to reform health care is what is called the "individual mandate" — a requirement that everyone must have health insurance either through his or her employer or purchased individually. A good chunk of the uninsured are that way of their own volition. They are young and healthy and feel they have better things to do with their money at this point...

The Trial of John Roberts By JEFFREY ROSEN September 12, 2009 FOUR years ago, when John Roberts became chief justice of the United States, he said that he hoped to emulate the modesty and unanimity of his greatest predecessor, John Marshall. But if Chief Justice Roberts presides over a broad, ideologically divided ruling in a campaign finance case the court heard last week, he risks being remembered instead as a conservative Earl Warren. For decades conservatives have attacked Warren, who was chief justice from 1953 to 1969, as the face of liberal judicial activism. They have criticized him for presiding...

WASHINGTON.Last March, during the Supreme Court argument concerning the Federal Election Commission's banning of a political movie, several justices were aghast. Suddenly and belatedly they saw the abyss that could swallow the First Amendment. Justice Antonin Scalia was "a little disoriented" and Justice Samuel Alito said "that's pretty incredible." Chief Justice John Roberts said: "If we accept your constitutional argument, we're establishing a precedent that you yourself say would extend to banning the book" -- a hypothetical 500-page book containing one sentence that said "vote for" a particular candidate. What shocked them, but should not have, were statements by a...

Hillary Clinton may end up the accidental heroine in the battle to reassert First Amendment rights over restrictions on political speech. Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard a historic reargument in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and the Justices have a chance to revisit two of their greatest offenses against the Constitution. The case involves a political documentary made during last year's Presidential primaries about then-Senator Clinton called "Hillary: The Movie." It wasn't what you'd call a glowing portrayal. Funded by a group called Citizens United, the film was intended to be shown on cable TV during...

The SCOTUS today appeared poised to strike down at least a portion of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of '02, after a majority of justices fiercely questioned Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan and an atty for the legislation's sponsors, including Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI). The case -- Citizens United v. FEC -- was first heard by the court on 3/24, but, in an unusual move, the court held over the case and ordered a re-hearing before the start of its Oct. term. Citizens United, a nonprofit advocacy org, produced a 90-min. film titled "Hillary: The Movie" meant...

Link to AP story on yahoo

The selective muzzles applied by the McCain-Feingold law. BY DAVID N. BOSSIE The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." The Framers' clear intent was first and foremost to protect political speech. Today, in a rare summer session, the Supreme Court will hear arguments as to whether it should overrule two previous, and in my opinion incorrectly decided, rulings on political free speech. Namely, the justices will decide whether or not to allow Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce and a significant section of McConnell v. Federal...

The Supreme Court considers government controls over speech. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments today regarding Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The case could decide what political speech is prohibited by federal campaign finance laws. To put it simply, campaign finance laws constrain free speech. This showdown provides the high court with an opportunity to make clear that it's not the proper role of government to limit how much is being spent on campaigns or by whom. The controversy of the day is over a film released during the 2008 presidential campaign. "Hillary The Movie" didn't expressly advocate that...

The Supreme Court will weigh First Amendment rights against campaign finance law when it holds a rare September argument Wednesday to review a case that started as a dispute over an anti-Hillary Clinton movie a conservative group wanted to air during the 2008 presidential primaries. The politically hot case will also be the first Supreme Court case for new Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The court will, as is customary, convene its next term on the first Monday in October, but this case originates from arguments it first heard in March. Instead of issuing a decision, the justices announced they wanted additional...

Otis McDonald wore an Army uniform and served with distinction. He then moved home to Chicago were he began a family. Meanwhile, he busied himself during the days with work at his local union. Eventually, he led the effort to integrate his union and ended up as president of the union. In recent years, McDonald looked around Chicago and decided that he could do something about the shadowy areas of the city outside the bright lights. He went into impoverished, crime-riddled neighborhoods as a community activist. Yet his work inevitably meant he crossed paths with shady characters — drug dealers...

Public discussion about the character and fitness for office of presidential candidates is at the core of the First Amendment's command that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the Freedom of Speech." Yet Congress, in its zeal to impose onerous campaign-finance restrictions, has made political speech a felony for one class of speakers. Corporations and unions can face up to five years in prison for broadcasting candidate-related advocacy during federal elections. Is outlawing political speech based on the identity of the speaker compatible with the First Amendment? Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine the...

Imagine power companies spending millions of dollars on ads in the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections accusing congressmen who supported climate change legislation of trying to increase electric rates and urging votes against them, or unions buying airtime to support primary challenges to conservative Democratic senators who opposed the labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act. Or even healthcare companies saturating the airwaves with messages urging voters to deny President Obama a second term. All those ads would be illegal under current election law. But the Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that challenges decades of restrictions on...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments from campaign finance reform advocates and opponents in a case many insiders say will be the most significant decision in more than 35 years. The case the court will hear, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, has the potential to overturn key elements of campaign finance law that prevent corporate spending on elections, a move that would open the door to millions of dollars that could not be spent previously. “This is the biggest case in campaign finance law, really, since Buckley v. Valeo in 1976,” said Rob Kelner, a partner at...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appears poised to wipe away limits on campaign spending by corporations and labor unions in time for next year's congressional elections in a case that began as a dispute over a movie about Hillary Rodham Clinton. The justices return to the bench Wednesday — nearly a month early — to consider whether to overrule two earlier decisions that restrict how and when corporations and unions can take part in federal campaigns. Laws that impose similar limits in 24 states also are threatened. The court first heard arguments in March in the case of whether...

Speculation Grows Over Another Supreme Court Nomination By John Stanton Roll Call Staff Sept. 3, 2009, 4:13 p.m. Speculation Grows Over Another Supreme Court Nomination U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ decision to hire only one law clerk for the coming term — and not the normal three or four — has fueled speculation on Capitol Hill about whether the 89-year-old jurist is planning to step aside and the effect another high court retirement would have on the Senate’s already busy fall schedule. Stevens has typically hired all of his clerks for a coming term at once, but this...

Washington, DC -- Justice John Paul Stevens could become the next Supreme Court justice to retire if the speculation that has started today is correct. Stevens has hired just one law clerk for an upcoming Supreme Court session, which observers say is an indication he could be considering a retirement bid.

The legal world — or at least those who watch movements at the Supreme Court closely — is a bit abuzz this morning with the news that Justice John Paul Stevens has confirmed that he has hired only one clerk so far for next year’s term. Clerk-watching has long been one of the signals as to whether a justice plans to retire, although clearly not foolproof and definitely not official. Justices usually hire three to four clerks by the beginning of the summer, a year or so before the next term when the clerks would start work. For Justice Stevens,...

John Paul Stevens has the longest tenure on the Supreme Court and is not coincidentally its oldest member at 89. Speculation arises every year about his potential retirement, but until now, Stevens has seemed indefatigable — or perhaps concerned about retiring with a more conservative President in place to nominate his replacement. However, Stevens no longer has that worry, and the small number of clerks he has hired this summer for the next session indicates that retirement will come soon: Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, generating speculation that the leader of the...

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, generating speculation that the leader of the court's liberals will retire next year. If Stevens does step down, he would give President Barack Obama his second high court opening in two years. Obama chose Justice Sonia Sotomayor for the court when Justice David Souter announced his retirement in May. Souter's failure to hire clerks was the first signal that he was contemplating leaving the court. Stevens, 89, joined the court in 1975 and is the second-oldest justice in the court's history, after Oliver Wendell Holmes....

If you're planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you'd best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law. As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products. The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer. "Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break in early September to hear a new argument in a momentous case that could transform the way political campaigns are conducted. The case, which arises from a minor political documentary called “Hillary: The Movie,” seemed an oddity when it was first argued in March. Just six months later, it has turned into a juggernaut with the potential to shatter a century-long understanding about the government’s ability to bar corporations from spending money to support political candidates. The case has also deepened a profound split among liberals, dividing those who...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break in early September to hear a new argument in a momentous case that could transform the way political campaigns are conducted. The case, which arises from a minor political documentary called “Hillary: The Movie,” seemed an oddity when it was first argued in March. At issue is whether the court should overrule a 1990 decision, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which upheld restrictions on corporate spending to support or oppose political candidates. The court’s order calling for re-argument, issued in June, has generated more than 40 friend-of-the-court briefs....

Law: President Obama's nominee for State Department legal adviser could be a future Supreme Court pick. He believes U.S. law should be based on foreign precedent, and even Shariah law could find a home here.We have commented many times on the opinion of a number of U.S. Supreme Court justices that American jurists should include foreign law and precedent in their decisions. In several prominent cases, this has already happened. In a speech in South Africa, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the March 2005 Roper v. Simmons decision, in which a 5-4 majority ruled against executing murderers who were 17...

What boycott? As I’ve said all along, the Glenn Beck boycott is backfiring. First off, the group behind the boycott, Color of Change, keeps targeting big companies – most recently, RadioShack -- that have never had anything to do with Glenn Beck’s FOX News show. Other advertisers have decided to pull their ads from ALL cable shows, left and right, stripping leftwing media allies like Keith Olbermann with even less ad revenue than ever. But it gets better: according to the latest ratings, viewers are tuning out the wall to wall Ted Kennedy hagiography and watching... Glenn Beck. He has...

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected in the next few weeks to declare that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are pollutants, a move that would require the federal government to regulate them -- even without legislation.

I am deeply grateful for the contribution that Ted Kennedy, who died last night, made to my education. Until Kennedy delivered his intemperate tirade against Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court in the summer of 1987, I hadn’t known that a United States Senator could brazenly lie to his colleagues and the American people and get away with it. I’m not talking about little fibs, or broken promises, or private dissimulations: all that I took as standard operating procedure in a fallen world. No, Ted Kennedy raised — that is to say, he dramatically lowered — the standard by...

The U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments in U.S. v. Stevens on Oct. 6. NSSF alerted conservation, sportsmen and outdoor media groups to this case previously and filed an amicus brief with the court. The case centers around a 1999 federal statute used to prosecute a Virginia man on animal cruelty-related charges that could similarly be used to prosecute retailers for stocking and selling books, DVDs or art depicting hunting scenes. In the 2004 case, the defendant was initially convicted, but the decision was later overturned by the Third Court of Appeals as a violation of the...

A June report from the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) suggests children of all countries and cultures are entitled to sexual and reproductive education beginning at age five. The report, called International Guidelines on Sexual Education, was released in June in conjunction with the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization which works for universal access to “reproductive health care.” In its rationale for creating the guidelines, the UNESCO report said it is “essential to recognize the need and entitlement of all young people to sexuality education.” An appendix backed that claim by pointing to a 2008 report...

The Supreme Court will consider two new cases on the scope of individuals’ Second Amendment right to have guns at its first Conference for the new Term, on Sept. 29, according to the Court’s electronic docket.  Both petitions challenge a Seventh Circuit Court ruling that the Amendment does not restrict gun control laws adopted by state, county or city government, but applies only to federal laws. The cases are National Rifle Association v. Chicago (08-1497 [1]) and McDonald v. Chicago (08-1521 [2]).The so-called “incorporation� issue is the most significant sequel issue raised in the wake of the Court’s 2008 decision...

During the presidential campaign Barack Obama declared, with no inadvertence, that among the furnishings of mind he would seek in an appointment to the Supreme Court is a keen sense of empathy for the less privileged in this country. And sure enough, now that he is president, his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor reveals a man more inclined to play on the clichés of identity politics than to seek a jurist who could stand on the intellectual plane of those we admire on the Supreme Court. Conservative commentators have been scathing in their reactions to a jurisprudence that takes its bearings...