[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

The SCOTUS was considering emerson, but were leaned on by Ashcroft and friends to put it off. The W justice dept put out their worthless statement about individual rights instead of settling the issue.

The justice department can bring this ruling to the SCOTUS.

It is time that they did.

[coloradan]

Can the plaintiffs of this case appeal to SCOTUS?

[SirFishalot]

Its very important for the right type of 2nd case to make it up to SCOTUS, if the wrong type gets there it could end up bad for the 2nd, the problem with going to court is that once your there anything can happen, you dont want to run every case you disagree with up there because once SCOTUS rules, you are done, theres no appeal left if they rule against you.

[GnL]

Emerson was convicted of violating a section of the U.S. Code, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(8) and was prosecuted in Federal court by a U.S. attorney, hence the Justice Department's involvement.

This 9th circuit case, Silveira v. Lockyer, involved private plaintiffs challenging a state law (hence AG Lockyer as the defendant) on federal grounds. Now that plaintiffs have lost their appeal, how does the Justice Dept step in and appeal it to SCOTUS? The Justice Dept was never involved.

[jjm2111]

The SCOTUS was considering emerson, but were leaned on by Ashcroft and friends to put it off. The W justice dept put out their worthless statement about individual rights instead of settling the issue.

Really??? And the NRA was trumpeting what a wunderkind Ashcroft is?