Comments are Down, and Blogging Will be Light
I’m really busy, and there’s an AR15.com shoot this weekend, so I’ve got a lot of ammo to load tonight and tomorrow.
Having said this, I did want to mention the recent decisions of the Supreme Court. They don’t fill me with confidence should they grant cert. to Silviera v. Lockyer. The majority has demonstrated that they don’t consider the Constitution as any kind of limit to their power. The 14th Amendment apparenty doesn’t mean what it says (University of Michigan decisions). On the other hand, they’re willing to use the 9th Amendment to recognize an unenumerated right of privacy, and use that to overcome the democratically passed laws of some states. The Founders did fear that, by enumerating some rights but not others, that future societies might denigrate the unenumerated rights.
In the case of the Second Amendment, we have an enumerated right that has been denigrated.
So here’s the question: If Silviera makes it to SCOTUS will they ignore the meaning of the Second Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment on the basis of “public good?” Or will they decide that the Bill of Rights really means what it says, even if an individual right to arms means that bad things with guns can happen?
You can bet your ass it will be a “divided court” again. And O’Connor will probably be the swing vote.
If you wish to discuss this, e-mail me and I’ll put up the interesting ones in a post.