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Guns and Judges: Electing the Supreme Court in 2008 [Must Read!]
Townhall ^ | May 15, 2008 | Sandy Froman, NRA Immediate Past President

Posted on 05/15/2008 1:28:25 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The political “hot button” issues of guns and judges have become intertwined in this election year. The fate of both issues will be decided by the candidate we elect as president. Why? Because over a four-year term, that president will likely appoint at least two and possibly three justices to the United States Supreme Court. Simply stated, this year when we elect a president, we will also cast our ballot for the next Supreme Court.

Everyone concerned about the Second Amendment and judicial accountability should heed John McCain’s speech to the NRA on May 16. The presumptive Republican nominee will speak directly to guns owners about the Second Amendment at the NRA’s Celebration of American Values event at the NRA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.

And in America today, there has never been a greater opportunity or a greater threat to gun rights. In March, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the watershed case of District of Columbia v. Heller, a lawsuit challenging the DC gun ban. Residents of the District of Columbia are categorically prohibited from possessing handguns and operable long guns (rifles and shotguns) in their homes, even for self-defense.

The Heller case turns on whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms refers to private, law-abiding citizens, or whether it is a right of the people “collectively” to have guns only when they serve in the National Guard or a state-sponsored militia unit. The Court is scheduled to decide the case the third week in June.

Whatever the Court decides, that decision will shape gun rights in America for generations to come. The Heller decision will become the definitive standard for gun rights in America. The Second Amendment is the insurance policy on American liberty. And whether you own guns or not, you cannot afford for a single minute to think that it doesn’t matter to you, your family or the security of this country.

Just like other controversial decisions, such as those on religious liberty and free speech, the Heller decision will lead to many more questions than it answers.

When the Court decided Everson v. Board of Education in 1947 it created the doctrine of separation of church and state. For over 60 years this nation has grappled with what that doctrine means, in a raging cultural battle.

When the Court declared a previously unnoticed right to abortion in Roe v. Wade in 1973, America’s courts and presidential politics were thrust into an issue that still stirs deep passions and is ever present in political debates.

From now on, the same will be true of the Second Amendment. The Heller decision will launch 30 years of defining the nature and scope of gun rights in our courts. The Heller holding will likely be narrow, and will leave open countless other questions, such as what kinds of guns are protected, how far that right extends beyond your home, and whether the Second Amendment controls state law. At least some of these questions will find their way up to the Supreme Court years later. Who sits on the Court when those cases arrive matters a great deal to those of us who believe in the value of widespread lawful gun ownership in America.

That’s why the 2008 presidential election has unprecedented importance for gun owners. Despite their campaign rhetoric purporting to support the right to keep and bear arms, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are categorically opposed to our Second Amendment rights. Hillary Clinton opposed the 2005 tort reform law that saved the American gun industry from bankruptcy. Barack Obama has declared his opposition to all concealed carry laws. He has refused to repudiate his answer to a 1996 questionnaire, where he answered “yes” to a question asking if he supported laws banning “the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.” And Senator Obama’s true contempt for gun owners came out when he described us as “clinging” to our guns out of bitterness.

In contrast, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain joined bipartisan majorities on a Congressional amicus brief in the Supreme Court in DC v. Heller for the proposition that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. Both Clinton and Obama refused to sign that brief, instead supporting the District of Columbia’s law that prohibits its law-abiding residents from possessing any operable firearm at home, even for self-defense.

The president of the United States appoints all federal judges. Senator McCain has stated he will appoint justices like John Roberts and Sam Alito, and Antonin Scalia, all of whom seem likely to vote to uphold individual gun rights. Senator Obama, on the other hand, has promised to nominate liberal judicial activists and wants the Court to uphold the DC gun ban.

So who Americans elect as president this year will determine the fate of the Second Amendment. In electing a president we also elect a Supreme Court, and in the coming years the makeup of the High Court will be crucial in defining our rights.

For that reason I’m honored to serve on Senator McCain’s Justice Advisory Committee, and will do everything I can to make sure that America’s 90 million gun owners elect a president who will appoint Supreme Court justices faithful to the text of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment.

Gun owners are very sensible people. America’s heartland is filled with people devoted to faith, family and classic American values like lawful gun ownership for hunting, recreation and self-defense. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could learn a lot from them, but I doubt they’ll be joining us at the NRA convention.

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Sandy Froman is the immediate past president of the National Rifle Association of America, only the second woman and the first Jewish American to hold that office in the 136-year history of the NRA. The views expressed are her own and not that of any organization.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 2008; banglist; captainqueeg; ctulthu08; donquixote; election; elections; froman; gunvote; heller; mccain; nra; obama; rino; rtkba; scotus
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

So I’m the problem now that people in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida determined who the republican nominee is before I ever voted? That’s very rich....

Look, if you feel so strongly about it, then please give Bob Barr approximately 100 million dollars to get his message out. That’s what it’s going to take for him to get noticed in this race. It’s nice that you want to stand on rock hard principles thereby ensuring that Obama gets elected. Then you get nothing of what you want. At least with McCain we get 50% of what we want. Is it perfect? No, I never said it was.

Go ahead and vote for some third party candidate or stay home on election day. Just don’t complain on here when Obama nominates Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court. I don’t want to hear you then.


81 posted on 05/15/2008 8:24:00 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Dionysius

The paranoid Republican leadership thinking a conservative can’t win, gave us McCain and a system to nominate him without conservatives.

Obama is not. going. to win. He doesn’t have the crossover support that McCain has. And the simple fact is he’s a black socialist and that scares the working class.


82 posted on 05/15/2008 8:40:54 AM PDT by Bull Market (Do you like McCain? Then be a maverick just like him, and vote for Barack Obama!)
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To: Old Teufel Hunden

LOL!


83 posted on 05/15/2008 9:02:42 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde ("When the government fears the people there is liberty ... " Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Bull Market

I sincerely hope you’re right. Even though McCain may also deep-six his own party due to his immigration stand, at least he will appoint good judges (if he’s as good as his word — big if!).


84 posted on 05/15/2008 9:10:36 AM PDT by Dionysius (Jingoism is no vice.)
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To: A Balrog of Morgoth

The GOP is finished.

Long term ,look to create and support another party which more appropriately represents the rights of Americans.

In the meantime, McCain is the only acceptable alternative to the twin horrors of Obama and Hillary.


85 posted on 05/15/2008 9:44:11 AM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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To: precisionshootist
precisionshootist said: "From my screen name you might accurately conclude that issues concerning the RKBA are important to me to say the least, ..."

Failing to vote for the Republican candidate will aid either Obama or Hillary gaining the White House and control of perhaps several Supreme Court Justices. It is really that simple. You get to decide whether the benefit of sending a message to the Republican Party is that valuable that you would permit one of the commies to win the election.

86 posted on 05/15/2008 9:49:19 AM PDT by William Tell (RKBA for California (rkba.members.sonic.net) - Volunteer by contacting Dave at rkba@sonic.net)
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To: Bull Market
Bull Market said: "The ACU is meaningless. "

On a scale of 0 to 100, how would you rate McCain, Hillary, and Obama? Is McCain's benefit to conservatism not ten times that of the two commies?

87 posted on 05/15/2008 10:02:35 AM PDT by William Tell (RKBA for California (rkba.members.sonic.net) - Volunteer by contacting Dave at rkba@sonic.net)
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To: A Balrog of Morgoth
but what about the long term?

Just think short term if it makes you feel better....its ALL about the judges

88 posted on 05/15/2008 10:07:37 AM PDT by Magnum44 (Terrorism is a disease, precise application of superior force is the ONLY cure)
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To: William Tell

Using the ACU’s own flawed system and correcting for missing votes, Obama gets a 4(they gave him 7), Clinton still gets 0, and McCain gets 32.

No one is disputing that McCain is a little better than the other two in terms of actual 2007 votes. But I refuse to allow blatant lies based on a flawed system to be spread around in a vain attempt to pretend McCain is anything close to a conservative.


89 posted on 05/15/2008 10:29:00 AM PDT by Bull Market (Do you like McCain? Then be a maverick just like him, and vote for Barack Obama!)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
NOTaDumbBlonde...please see 77 above, hiredhand nailed it again...

Vote with your heart, let God worry about the results...

90 posted on 05/15/2008 11:06:17 AM PDT by Gilbo_3 (vote for satan's little brother, he is the 'lesser' of three evils.../sarc...LiveFReeOr Die...)
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To: William Tell; JustaDumbBlonde; hiredhand; B4Ranch; Squantos; precisionshootist
You get to decide whether the benefit of sending a message to the Republican Party is that valuable

It is not about 'sending a message'...it IS about core principles and honestly voting FOR something...

the Rin-O-P train left the tracks a long long time ago...and quite frankly I dont give a ratzazz to say anything to them one way or the other, much less try to teach dead dogs new tricks...

a repub pollster-type chick called today [Ky], asked if the election were today- if I would vote for mccain or the donkey...

I told her that my write-in would be third party if any decent conservative were running, or Jesus Christ...

getting that call to check on mccains 'electability' made me think the convention might be a popcorn festival...

LFOD...

91 posted on 05/15/2008 11:19:52 AM PDT by Gilbo_3 (vote for satan's little brother, he is the 'lesser' of three evils.../sarc...LiveFReeOr Die...)
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To: hiredhand
thanks again for yer encouraging posts...

Praise the Lord...pass the ammo...

LFOD...

92 posted on 05/15/2008 11:22:50 AM PDT by Gilbo_3 (vote for satan's little brother, he is the 'lesser' of three evils.../sarc...LiveFReeOr Die...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
You can also rest assured that if Barack Hussein Obama wins the general election, there will be no United States of America as we now know it four years hence.

It really doesn't matter. This great country will be brought to her knees and destroyed. The sad thing is that it will take forces of evil working inside to accomplish what all the dictatorships in the last two hundred years have not. The Founding Fathers could never have imagined the magnitude of the evils that we face today.

Like the Council on Foreign Relations: Take the likes of Mr. Leslie Gelb: Mr. Gelb is a consistent and persistent advocate for what is commonly referred to as The New World Order otherwise known as either a globalist or an internationalist. He and his organization (Council on Foreign Relations) have been chipping away at our Constitution and at our children via the curriculum's of the public schools since the 1930s.

When CFR was first formed in 1921 and funded a couple years later by the Carnegie and Ford Foundations among it's first targets were to infiltrate the US State Dept and to infiltrate the media. They totally succeeded at both.

Today nothing moves unless they approve it. They basically control BOTH the major parties. Every President & VP since Woodrow Wilson has either been directly a member of CFR or his vp and cabinet members have been members. It's not quite fair to assert that every member of Congress and every President is actively "dancing to the tune of cfr" but they certainly know the musicians and will sorta hum along to go along. McCain is a member. So are both Hillary and Barack. Bush #43 (our current Prez) is not a member but Cheny is and so is Condi Rice and Gates along with most of the cabinet heads and assistants.

Bush #41 is a member and so are Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Tom Brokaw is a member and so is Barbara Walters. So was the late Carl Sagan and so is Walter Cronkite. Even Edward R. Murrow the late and legendary newscaster was a member. This might not be so bad if just anybody can join. But NO you have to be invited and all cfr meetings are secret.

Again if there were millions of members it might not be so sinister. But just 3,000 Americans are members and they represent the top three or four tiers of: Politics, media, industry, the legal field and even Hollywood.

Depending on the veep & Cabinet selections made by McCain, your worst case projected time line might hold just as well for a McCain administration. After all, the President isn't the end all be all driving force of his own administration. He is the sum total of the efficacy of his personnel and their execution of his vision. I'll hold my nose and vote for McCain, but I'll track his cabinet and other administrative nominees very carefully to see just how close they bring us to that crumbling and unforgiving edge of the NWO cliff.

These are the people who will control the lives of everyday Americans if WE THE PEOPLE are "asleep at the switch." There will come a time to stand up and fight for real and enduring freedom here on home soil. If we fail all is lost. Don't say I didn't warn you. The process is well underway. In fact this great nation may actually cease to exist in the form we now know as soon as the next 10 years.

Think there is even a ghost of a chance? Nope. Why am I so pessimistic? Well first off I have taught in the public schools for the last 20 years and have seen what is in store for us. Yes it is inevitable simply because for the NWO to succeed, the United States must be brought down economically, politically and spiritually.

We must be disarmed and subjugated for the kingdom of the Anti Christ to come into power. It's all Biblical. I was kinda hoping that I could avoid the main part of the cataclysm and get out clean with a fairly happy life. I regret that this does not seem to be what is going to come to pass.

93 posted on 05/15/2008 11:35:54 AM PDT by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I certainly agree about the importance of SCOTUS appointees with respect to a number of constitutional issues, not the least of which is the Second Amendment. However, there is an aspect of this I have not seen discussed in this thread, namely that the President only nominates Justices; the Senate must confirm them.

If the next Senate is solidly Democratic (as suggested by recent elections), there is little chance that a conservative Justice would be confirmed. So, here is my question: Do you really trust a McCain presidency to leave SCOTUS seats empty if the Senate won’t confirm them? Or would he “reach out” to another Gang of 14 and compromise on moderate nominees?

While it may not be achievable, it would seem the only way to protect the SOCTUS is to vote down-ticket, electing enough Republican Senators to block bad nominations.


94 posted on 05/15/2008 11:43:51 AM PDT by X. OTerica
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To: X. OTerica
X. OTerica said: Or would he “reach out” to another Gang of 14 and compromise on moderate nominees?

If, for example, Ginsburg could be replaced TODAY with a "moderate" nominee, would you be in favor or against such a replacement?

95 posted on 05/15/2008 11:50:44 AM PDT by William Tell (RKBA for California (rkba.members.sonic.net) - Volunteer by contacting Dave at rkba@sonic.net)
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To: William Tell

Fair question – I’m just not very optimistic that a Democratic Senate would confirm any nominee that moves the court to the right. I would expect them to demand another liberal to replace Ginsberg, similar to the Sandra O’Conner argument (that President Bush was able to reject with the benefit of a close to evenly constituted Senate).


96 posted on 05/15/2008 11:57:36 AM PDT by X. OTerica
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To: Hugin

I’ve posted a lot about Huckabee here on FR, read a lot about him all over the internet, and talked about him with people who (like myself) follow politics pretty closely.

I don’t want to revisit the whole Huckabee thing with all the back and forth and pro’s and con’s so I won’t answer your post about how great Huckabee is and I’ll let you get the last word on that.

I do believe, though, that if McCain chooses Huckabee as his VP he’ll cruise to a 49-state defeat. (He’ll win Arizona but not Arkansas.)


97 posted on 05/15/2008 12:01:44 PM PDT by samtheman
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To: ExSoldier

Guess who nominated former President “Bill” Clinton to membership in the Council on Foreign Relations?


98 posted on 05/15/2008 12:52:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary or Obama can!)
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To: Gilbo_3; hiredhand
"Vote with your heart, let God worry about the results..."

Thanks for the ping to hiredhand's post ... it reflects so much of what I am determined to exhibit this election cycle. This following is my post to another FReeper on another thread yesterday:

"You know, SJackson, if you have come to a place in your mind that allows you to go into a polling place and placing your vote for McCain and leave feeling really good about what you've done ... excellent and good on you! I'm certainly not going to attack you for doing what you see as your civic duty, as much as I might disagree with your choice.

It would be really kinda cool if you would, at the very least, give the same consideration to anyone else who has searched their heart and soul and come up with a different decision. This 'vote for my candidate or stay home or waste your vote' or 'if you don't support McCain you must be a liberal' attitudes are really getting old.

It is entirely reasonable and possible to look at McCain's political record and determine that he is not what is in the best interest of this country. An argument can also be made that it is more difficult to actually stand up and say 'enough' with the path of the GOP than it is to go along and get along one more election cycle. That frame of mind is largely responsible for getting us to the point that we are with arguably the most liberal republican that could have been put forward.

Although hiredhand said it much more eloquently than I, we are definitely on the same page. My decision to reject McCain has not been reached without much study, thought and prayer. I will be casting votes for candidates that represent my values as much as is possible.

FReegards,

99 posted on 05/15/2008 1:03:03 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde ("When the government fears the people there is liberty ... " Thomas Jefferson)
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To: precisionshootist

I’m with you, McAmnesty will not get my or my wife’s vote!

I’m writing in Dan Gurney for president.


100 posted on 05/15/2008 1:15:43 PM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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