*LIVE THREAD* DC vs Heller decision due at 10:00 EST (2nd Amendment)

SCOTUS Blog ^ | 6-26-08 | shameless vanity

[RKBA Democrat]

Today is the day.

The folks at SCOTUS blog will be providing a live blog to follow developments as quickly as possible.

[Gondring]

Guess he didn't want to open the heavy weapons up.

Yes...he wants to keep them closed down...banned from the citizenry.

[Darren McCarty]

However, the biggest thing to remember with Kennedy is that he was Reagan's THIRD choice. We all remember Bork, and this was the first time a Supreme Court appointee had EVER been challenged based on his politics and not qualifications.

Irony there is that this might have been 5-4 the other way if Bork was the nominee. Douglas GinsbErg with an e (not to be confused with Ruth Bader GinsbUrg with a u) would have been a great Justice.

[gnarledmaw]

CCW has only really been acceptable in the last 2000 years. Open carry was considered the working mans way and concealed carry the cultured professionals way.

[Darren McCarty]

I’m not Sandra Day O’Connor’s biggest fan, but she DID vote right in the last two gun related decisions. Lopez (gun free 1000 ft of a school) on commerce clause grounds, and Pritz (Brady mandates on states) on 10th Amendment grounds. Both were groundbreaking decisions in their own right.

[Darren McCarty]

Personally, I’m a big fan of CCW, and not a big fan of open carry. That aside, court precident is really nasty to CCW - going back 150 years. The good news is that we have gained much ground in the legislatures on that issue.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Too bad FR wasn't around when Reagan appointed O'Connor and Kennedy to the court. Reagan really screwed us with those two.

Bush the Father screwed us far worse with Souter. And the milquetoast country club Republicans screwed us far, far worse with Ginsberg, who shouldn't have been allowed within ten miles of the SCOTUS.

[Gondring]

Ginsberg, who shouldn't have been allowed within ten miles of the SCOTUS

She's actually more honest than many other possibilities, even if I don't agree with all of her personal positions.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

...the references to “licenses” and “in the home” and “restrictions” and “types of guns” and “felons” leads me to believe that these justices believe in a whole lot of limits on Second Amendment rights...

There are already plenty of restrictions. The question remains -- how many more and how severe. The best thing that came out of this case was affirmation of an individual (vs collective (=nonsense)) right to "keep and bear" arms. Now, it's going to get down to the definitions of "keep" and "bear". IMO, licensing will be the next big hurdle. Is a license required for any of the other inalienable rights? Answer = NO!

[DBrow]

I personally don’t think a fundamental right can be assigned a fee, a tax, or a license.

The Supremes walked a fine line here, wishing to NOT overturn state laws.

Your point is very valid, and something like that may be the basis of another Supremes case.

[hadit2here]

Yeah, if you go here you'll see that Fenty already is saying that very thing- "in the home" only and that he will ban guns outside of the home. Plus the "new process" for registering handguns that will take 21 days to setup.

Then comes all the "reasonable" regulations that I pointed out in my original post. With enough reasonable restrictions on obtaining a "permit" for registering a handgun, then the years it will take to have it go through the court system to hopefully slap them down again. Nothing has really changed with this opinion. It will just take a bit more "creative" legislation to permit, register and qualify any handgun ownership out of existence.

Did anyone actually expect the libtards to roll over and actually agree with the Second? [rhetorical question, I know]

[Forgiven_Sinner]

“Not to quibble but Roe v. Wade was a 7-2 vote. Its hard to believe that 7 members of the Supreme Court could find an imaginary right to abortion and only 5 could find the obvious right to keep and bear arms.”

Wasn't that the Warren court? Or was Rehnquist the Chief Justice? In any event, it was a far more liberal court than today's.

Have you read the Roe v. Wade opinion? I read it in my business law class and thought it was totally illogical. I was really upset that seven adults agreed to it.

[stand watie]

and you are surprised by this. i'd believe anything about NY,CT & the other northeastern states (except VT, which has NO statewide "gun control laws";you can carry concealed in VT without a permit!!!)

free dixie,sw

[patton]

Ayep.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, “In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas.”

I bet he wrote that from his idyllic cottage in fairy tale Cambridge, MA (crime rate 0.001 on a scale of 100).

[princess leah]

Assumptive Language is what we have got a severe disease of in today’s society. My husband and I are involved in “the truth project” (see Focus on the Family’s website for details), but boy has it really shown me how we have fallen down the slippery slope from the truth of reality. This is what 4 of our Supreme Court Justices suffer severely from and most of our senators and house members. Truth prevailed today! Yahoo...

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

The NRA just announced that they are going to file suit in Chicago and some other cities too.

I'm sending them $100. Go get 'em NRA!

[tlb]

>>>Thank God you WERE wrong...

And there is nobody more delighted then me that it was so, and I usually HATE to be wrong. But I was correct in expecting a 5 to 4 vote, and Kennedy could just as easily flipped the other way. This was too darn close

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

"By the way Obama released a comment saying he agrees with the courts decision."

So, it's OK with Obama if I cling to my guns? That's mighty white of him.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

My first post was a bit knee-jerk. I agree, this was a great win for our side. Point taken about 5-4 vs 6-3. If Justice Kennedy couldn't have been brought on board, it may well have been 4-5 and a horrific loss. Justice Scalia is DA MAN! Kudos and heart felt thanks to Justices Roberts, Alito, and Thomas as well.

[ptgustan]

The "right to keep and bear arms" is a fundamental right. Going armed isn't a privilege that can require a license, like driving a car on the public roads.

We can't be required to get permits to publish our opinions. What if you needed a permit to publish a newspaper or a book? To paint a picture? Civil libertarians would howl.

Nobody needs any kind of permit to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. Don't let anyone tell you so.