The SCOTUS splits in their opinion that the law is unconstitutional based on the 'shall not be infringed' portion, while the opposition bases it's view on the 'security of a free state' portion.
Now, if the pro side(Shall not be infringed) prevails, every law subject to the control of firearms in this country comes into question.
The captured bureaucracy of Washington would come apart at the seams.
If the Anti side(security of a free state) prevails, a whole host of new laws will be passed with even more stringent controls and soon a complete elimination of the basic right.
Now this decision will be determined by Kennedy, most likely, and the justices will not agree on an all or nothing decision either way. By narrowly focusing on the DC law and leaving the rest of the country in the same situation pertaining to GCA34, GCA68, etc, is what will happen. Which is what I am guessing will happen as I said in my earlier post.
Thoughts?
Almost a certainty.
Otherwise, either way, things would get interesting around here real fast.
Although the Supreme Court has accepted the case, I don't believe that there is any requirement that they actually deliver a decision.
If Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas all support the correct reading, then I don't think they will view it as advisable to allow Kennedy to "compromise" on a fundamental individual right. Either Kennedy goes along or the conservative four will see to it that Kennedy is saddled with an incredibly wrong reading from the libs on the court. There will be pressure on Kennedy, if he can't see the truth, to simply deny a majority to any decision. The Court would then announce that the DC decision stands with no further comment. This would "kick the can down the road" for a later Court.
As for the Court rendering a "narrow" decison, that is hardly possible. Either it is an individual right or it isn't. Either the right is "fundamental" or it isn't. If it is not fundamental, then the Court could consider permitting the DC infringement and not otherwise. If it is fundamental, then the DC ban is out and 20,000 laws across the nation are in jeopardy.
One need only ask, "Did the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit the disarming of freed slaves after the Civil War?" This is really the only question that one need ask.
The Democrats, while not having to state so in such explicit terms, obviously believe that the individual states have the right to disarm black people.
If not, then not. DC ban stays put, they weasel an opinion to cover their asses, and a bunch of fringe "gun nuts" start "voting from the roof tops" as new gun control legislation is penned in half the States in the Union.
That said, I got the idea that the black robes will throw a wrench in the establishment just to separate themselves from the politically detested retards that collectively poll in the single digit approval range.
what 'honest' judge in their right mind would wanna piss off 90 million gun owners by throwin the door wide open for a leap off the slippery slope. Aint enough kevlar in the world to go that route, and an 'honest' ruling may vault their political/power status infinately further ahead of their cronies in one moment than all the appeasment of the past years combined...
whatcha think ???