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Breaking: High Court Extends Second Amendment to States

By Ashby Jones

Update (11:19): The court has now adjourned for the term. Update (11:11): Without comment, the court declined to take up a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowing a sex-abuse case against the Vatican to go forward. Click here for earlier LB coverage on the case, Doe v. Holy See. Update (11:03): The court, in its final opinion of the 2009-2010 term, has ruled that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law, violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the court, expressly mentioned that the board can keep functioning, however. Update (10:57): The court has released its Hastings Christian Fellowship v. Martinez opinion. The court ruled that the non-discrimination policy at Hastings Law School, which was challenged by a Christian student group, does not violate the First Amendment. Update (10:49): The court has issued its long-awaited opinion in Bilski v. Kappos. While the court shot down the business-method patent at issue in the case, the court ruled that the Federal Patent Act does not categorically exclude business methods from patent-eligibility. The long-awaited Supreme Court rulings have begun making their way public. The first big case to get announced could mean bad news for gun-control advocates: In the McDonald v. Chicago case, the Court has extended the Second Amendment to the States. Click here for Nathan Koppel's early writeup in the WSJ; here for the opinion The Supreme Court says the Constitution's "right to keep and bear arms'' applies nationwide as a restraint on the ability of government to limit its application. The justices on Monday cast doubt on a Chicago area handgun ban, but also signaled in their 5-4 decision that less severe restrictions could survive legal challenges. The AP is reporting that the Supreme Court will also consider Arizona's controversial law on hiring illegal workers. The justices on Monday accepted an appeal from the Chamber of Commerce, American Civil Liberties Union and others to a lower court ruling that upheld Arizona's law. The measure requires employers to verify the eligibility of prospective employees through a federal database called E-Verify and imposes sanctions on companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers. We'll continue to update the news as we get it.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 28, 2010 (boomark / email).