26 June 2008

2nd Amendment Implies Right to Own A Gun

Although I am both a staunch advocate of gun control and an opponent generally of firearms, the thing that surprises me most about today's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller is that four members of the court managed to find restrictions. Of course after the majority's bizarre logic in yesterday's decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana (and considering that most of the majority in that case make up the the dissenting minority in this case) I shouldn't be surprised. I look forward to reading both the majority opinion and the dissents.

Yesterday and today have put me in the unusual position of agreeing with the conservative wing of the court in two big decisions despite my usual political leanings. I used to write posts about big-name SCOTUS opinions, not because I have any expert analysis to bring to the table but because they interest me I enjoy writing such posts. I may have to do so again; at least three have come down in the last month that I've been interested in--especially so in Kennedy, a case I wouldn't normally have cared much about but for the devastating dissent by Justice Alito (the first decision/dissent of his I've read since he joined the Court that I thought was really brilliant). I think I'll work on posts about these three decisions, but right now I'm going to continue working on applications and cover letters.

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