[Pearman]

While this is indeed great news, I have a question for the lawyers out there.

One of the legacies of liberal SCOTUS decisions is the so called "incorporation doctrine." This is the doctrine that selected parts of the Constitution, originally written as restraints on the federal govenment, are also applicable to the individual states because of the enactment of the post-Civil War Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Most conservatives decry this doctrine. To make matters worse, it has been applied selectively. In other words it has been used only when it has helped the liberal Justices to "feel good" about their decisions, "feeling good" being the criterion for almost all liberal decision making.

Now it is my understanding that the Second Amendment has never been "incorporated", i.e., it has never been held to apply to the states. So my question is this. Will conservatives now raise the ante and take the anomalous (for them) position that the Second Amendment applies to the states via the incorporation doctrine?

[El Gato]

Incorporation doctrine selectively applies the Bill of Rights, and other rights protected by the Federal Constitution via the due process claus of the 14th Amendment. In reality, the priveleges and immunities clause was intended to do this directly. Trouble is, the 19th Century Justices didn't approve of the 14th amendment, and basically declared it null and void under the theory that rights are not granted by the Consitution and Bill of Rights, and so they are not "priveleges" of citizens, ignoring the fact that they are actually "immunities" from governmental action.