11/26/2007

CBS Correspondent Predicts Close Decision Over DC Gun Ban Case with

Even more importantly he predicts that with Kennedy as the swing vote, most gun control will still be allowed. I assume that this isn't the same standard that Kennedy thinks applies to the first and fourth amendments.

One of Justice Anthony Kennedy's law clerks, Orrin Kerr, recently predicted this precise scenario. After declaring that there is an individual right under the Second Amendment, "Kennedy will endorse a relatively deferential standard of review that will end up allowing a great deal of gun regulation," wrote Kerr.

It matters what Kerr thinks about Kennedy because it matters what Kennedy thinks about the court. Almost certainly he will be the "5" if the gun case is decided, as most think it will be, through a 5-4 ruling. The litigants surely know this and so will cater their briefs to push the Swing Justice in one direction or the other. But will Kennedy, in the end, be willing to forge the compromise that ends that individual/collective "dichotomy" that Professor Cornell complains about? . . . . .


Thanks to John Lazar for sending me this link.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The first is that our hallowed forefathers were no more willing or capable of making tough decisions about contentious issues (like gun rights) than are their modern-day counterparts. The amendment is an ambiguous, mealy-mouthed compromise that conveniently leaves for another day (like 2008) a legal resolution of the debate between gun rights enthusiasts and gun control advocates - a fight that is older than the country itself. "

I guess this so-called newsman never read comments from the individual founding fathers about the 2nd Amendment and how they thought it was so important as an individual right, a "right of the people".

11/29/2007 4:19 PM  

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