Local government officials in Washington, D.C., announced Monday they will appeal to the Supreme Court in a major test case on the meaning of the Second Amendment. The key issue in the coming petition will be whether the Amendment protects an individual right to have guns in one’s home- an issue on which there is now a clear conflict among federal Circuit Courts.
The petition would have been due Aug. 7, but city officials said they would ask Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., for a 30-day extension of time to file the case. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and city Attorney General Linda Singer disclosed the appeal plan at a press conference, along with local Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
The D.C. Circuit Court ruled on March 9 that the Second Amendment does guarantee an individual right to possess a gun — at least within one’s own home. The case is Parker, et al., v. District of Columbia (docket 04-7041). On May 8, the Circuit Court refused by a 6-4 vote to rehear the case en banc. The mandate is scheduled to be issued Aug. 7, but will be withheld after the city files its Supreme Court petition.
It would be my hope the USSC determines the term “the right of the people” as used within the Second Amendment to be of equal verbage as is employed within the Fourth Amendment. If so, there can be no question but that “the right of the people” is individual, not in reference to an abstract entity apart from the person who is a party of which comprises “the people”.