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The end of this Term by the Supreme Court was a mixed bag, because Justice Kennedy sometimes took the Constitution seriously, sometimed not. The Heller decision, at least, was an excellent one, with potentially broader impact than its subject matter.

John / Billybob

1 posted on 06/28/2008 2:11:52 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
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To: Congressman Billybob

Thanks Billybob. As I posted somewhere else: It is not the end or the beginning of the end; however, it is the end of the beginning.


2 posted on 06/28/2008 2:22:53 PM PDT by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
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To: Congressman Billybob

bttt


3 posted on 06/28/2008 2:27:38 PM PDT by Matchett-PI (Driving a Phase Two Operation Chaos Hybrid that burns both gas AND rubber.)
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To: Congressman Billybob
I, for one, consider the nomination of new Justices to be an overriding consideration in the 2008 election.

Could not be any clearer or more accurate.

4 posted on 06/28/2008 2:28:18 PM PDT by don-o (My son, Ben, reports to Parris Island on (to be determined))
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To: Congressman Billybob
John,

Ypu wrote and I quote, "the Court must follow the new law"

Then you expressed an opinion, "Exactly the same will, I think, apply to the Heller case in the years and decades to come.",

If you could please tell me how that can be? In the case under discussion, the Law was at all times set forth in the 2nd Amendment. Unless at some future date, the 2nd Amendment in repealed, where will the new law come from?

Semper Fi
An old Man

6 posted on 06/28/2008 2:37:55 PM PDT by An Old Man ("The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress." Douglas)
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To: Congressman Billybob
I know that many here already know this but the statment that ...the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Heller case on Thursday, ruling that the Second Amendment provides a personal right to "keep and bear arms."... is incorrect. The ruling affirmed that the right exists...not that the 2nd amendment grants it!
7 posted on 06/28/2008 2:38:07 PM PDT by Poseidon
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To: Congressman Billybob
I agree that this decision by the SCOUS is important, but it also shows the schizoid thinking of these same people, all in the same week. Re: The 'Rape' decision and the usurping of Military law decision of a few days prior.

And, when looks back 30 to 40 years and assesses some of the decisions that the Court has made and the resultant affect and effect these decisions have had on our society, one wonders where the moral, common sense of these people resides.

One additionally wonders what motivates them and what benefit they are able to redeem for these decisions.

Inquiring minds want to know.

8 posted on 06/28/2008 2:40:04 PM PDT by Parmy
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To: Congressman Billybob

it’s a wonder that some dan rather hasn’t made the claim that the 2nd applies to arms, but not fingers, legs, feet, or ears. and the NYT cheers him on.


9 posted on 06/28/2008 2:40:26 PM PDT by Waco
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To: Congressman Billybob
Photobucket
10 posted on 06/28/2008 2:41:49 PM PDT by redreno
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To: Congressman Billybob

My friends could not understand why I was so euphoric when this decision came down on Thursday. They just couldn’t grasp the significance of this decision. I had to explain it to each and every one of them. As a true American, I don’t agree with the “media” that Obama getting elected would be “historic.” If the “media” wants “historic,” this decision was HISTORIC! IMHO.


11 posted on 06/28/2008 2:48:28 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (De-Globalize yourself !)
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To: Congressman Billybob

Bump


12 posted on 06/28/2008 2:54:39 PM PDT by Enterprise (Let all Democrats have a half vote. They deserve it!)
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To: Congressman Billybob

The true meaning is that our all our rights went from coming from God to coming from a parchment that’s interpreted by man.

If the Constitution were to turn to dust would we lose our rights?


14 posted on 06/28/2008 3:14:10 PM PDT by NoLibZone (When Shall We Have The Courage Our Founders Had? It's Time For The 2nd American Revolution.)
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To: Congressman Billybob
The end of this Term by the Supreme Court was a mixed bag, because Justice Kennedy sometimes took the Constitution seriously, sometimed not.

Is he too old for Zyprexa?

17 posted on 06/28/2008 3:24:58 PM PDT by Stentor (Obama supporters. Letting the little void do the thinking for the big void.)
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To: Congressman Billybob

This decision points out the difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberals are for collective freedoms for the state to do as it will against the individual and conservatives are for the freedom of the individual to do as he will against he state. We almost lost the second amendment to the state.


20 posted on 06/28/2008 3:42:55 PM PDT by jesseam (Been there and done that!)
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To: Congressman Billybob

—bflr—


22 posted on 06/28/2008 3:45:55 PM PDT by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the MSM tells you about firearms or explosives--NRA Benefactor)
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To: Congressman Billybob
“Justice Stevens is dead wrong to think that the right to petition [First Amendment] is ‘primarily collective in nature.’ ” “Justice Stevens flatly misreads the historical record.”

Well, even if he was "dead right", the word "primarily" is not the same thing as the word "exclusively".

23 posted on 06/28/2008 4:04:59 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: Congressman Billybob
The modern Left is stung by the Heller ruling, and the left is lashing out at the moment because of it.

This is evidenced by news “articles” in which editorial comments are inserted into news stories in places like the NY Times claiming bizarre things (on their own front page!) as that DC vs Heller “won't have any significant impact” anywhere, anytime, ever.

And this “lashing out” is also evidenced in the dissents filed by Stevens and Breyer that make claims (e.g. that there were urban gun bans in 1776 America) that they can not support with evidence.

Snap!

In the above we can find solace...for the Left has overstretched itself. Their claims are being laid bare.

For another example, consider that for *decades* the academic Left has invented (from whole cloth) and propagated a “collective rights” theory to explain why the 2nd Amendment allowed gun bans.

No more!

Now “collective rights” are dead.

Individual rights have triumphed...and even wild-eyed left-wing bastions of great legal heft (e.g. Harvard Law School) will have to begin teaching individual rights while stuffing “collective rights” theories down the memory hole...or at least...after this initial period of the Left lashing out at the Heller ruling has passed, *then* they will have to begin teaching individual rights in law schools.

And notice that I say “begin.”

What a sad state of affairs that our last several *decades* have seen law schools teach rubbish instead of actual Constitutional Law.

That ends here.

DC vs Heller is a game changer.

The Constitution means what it says, and the Bill of Rights protect individual rights.

For the Left, this is a radical rethink (but then again, that's why they are the Left while we've always been right).

25 posted on 06/28/2008 4:22:47 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Congressman Billybob

How long has it been since a Supreme Court ruling protected the rights of anyone other than drug dealers, perverts and killers?


30 posted on 06/28/2008 5:31:27 PM PDT by Spok (Liberty lives only in proportion to wholesome restraint.)
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To: Congressman Billybob
Certainly little common ground between the majority and the minority opinions!

And certainly, even one new member of SCOTUS would change the pivot which is Kennedy. If Stevens, aged 88, or any of the other four "liberals" retires soon, then if we could even have a Sandra Day O'Connor in his place it would be an improvement. At least once in a while they would disagree with Kennedy when Kennedy was wrong - thus giving the Constitution a 5-4 win.

When you propose the likelihood of up to four vacancies before 2012, how many of those would likely be from the majority in Heller?


36 posted on 06/29/2008 5:25:23 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The conceit of journalistic objectivity is profoundly subversive of democratic principle.)
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To: Congressman Billybob
Here are some of the charges leveled by the Opinion against the Dissents: “Justice Stevens is dead wrong to think that the right to petition [First Amendment] is ‘primarily collective in nature.’ ” “Justice Stevens flatly misreads the historical record.” “Justice Stevens suggests that ‘there is not so much as a whisper’ in [Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution] ... that favors the individual-rights view.... That is wrong.’
The thing I notice in this discussion is the implication that the final configuration of the Opinion and the Dissents is arrived at collaboratively - the Opinion speaks confidently as to the exact nature of each of the Dissents. Has that always been routine?

37 posted on 06/29/2008 5:33:44 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The conceit of journalistic objectivity is profoundly subversive of democratic principle.)
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To: Congressman Billybob; All
Blueprint for Restoring 2nd Amendment Rights to Citizens of New Jersey

As (legal) gun ownership is dependent upon the whims of local police departments, the following MAY be in order:

1. Multiple "Citizen Xes", with no criminal background or mental defect, apply for gun "permit".

2. Gun "permits" are denied.

3. (fill in the blank)

4. Shoots an intruder in his or her home, breaking 2 NJ laws simultaneously, "illegal weapon", no "castle" provision.

5. Does NOT allow or rejects plea bargain on multiple counts.

6. Takes issue to SCOTUS on points decided in Heller:

Comments?

39 posted on 06/29/2008 8:06:41 AM PDT by britt reed (His followers believe Obama is the "Second Coming", those with open eyes recognize the Golden Calf.)
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