Free Republic

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens plans to release his book, "The Making of a Justice: My First 94 Years,” in May, not long after his 99th birthday. The New York Times interviewed him for a piece about his memoir, at which point he laid out the three Supreme Court decisions he still believes, to this day, were the wrong decision.District of Columbia v. HellerThe 2008 landmark decision, often referred to as Heller, was a 5-4 decision that upheld an individual's right to possess a firearm for self-defense. There is no need to be part of a militia in order...

In just a few years, he turned an obscure Texas legal post into a national platform for red-meat conservative causes.In 2008, in the high-profile Supreme Court gun-rights case called District of Columbia v. Heller, a brief was filed from the eighth floor of the Daniel Price Sr. State Office Building in Austin, Texas, specifically from the corner office of the man who was then the state's solicitor general, Ted Cruz.The brief took a strong stance on the divisive question of whether the Second Amendment establishes an individual right to own guns, or just protects state and local militias. The brief...

In Dante’s Inferno, the gates of Hell are inscribed with the Latin phrase, “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.” Translated into English, the iconic phrase reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Today, however, this phrase would be quite apt on all signs announcing the crossover into the state of Maryland, with one little tweak: “Abandon all hope, gun owners who enter here.” One year ago last week, Florida-resident John Filippidis and his family were traveling through Maryland when his vehicle was pulled over by a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer. Filippidis, a concealed carry permit holder in his home...

Just when I thought the District of Columbia government couldn’t stoop to new lows of incompetence and non-sensical behavior, it does. Apparently, self-defense spray is defined as a firearm in DC and must be registered by its owner with the Metropolitan Police Department. I kid you not! You heard me correctly. The DC Police wants to make it even more difficult for people, especially women, in a town where it’s tortuous to purchase a gun to use in self-defense. Recently, US District Judge Frederick J. Schulling Jr. ruled DC’s ban on people carrying guns in public was unconstitutional. Yet, DC...

The District of Columbia government on Friday opposed a move by D.C. residents to expand the scope of Supreme Court review of the dispute over the city’s strict ban on private possession of handguns. In a new brief, city officials argued that the Justices should consider only the constitutionality of the handgun law under the Constitution’s Second Amendment. That is the sole issue raised in the city’s petition in D.C. v. Heller (07-290). D.C. residents have filed a cross-petition (Parker v. District of Columbia, 07-335; the city brief filed on Friday was in opposition to that filing. The Court has...

Activists should be aware of the fact that as the "Parker" case heads to appeal at the Supreme Court, it is no longer the "Parker" case. The pleading for certiorari will be titled "District of Columbia v. Heller" since Heller was the only plaintiff in the original case who was actually found to have legal standing and the roles have switched for the appeal. This change has made it difficult for many people trying to keep up with the case to locate information since Activists should be aware of the fact that as the "Parker" case heads to appeal at...