Constitutional Law

Strange column

Posted on December 01, 2009
At Bloomberg.com. "The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank." "Common sense tells you a handgun is probably not even all that useful...

McDonald v. Chicago oral argument set

Posted on November 30, 2009
March 2, 2010. In contrast, Heller was argued March 18, 2008, and decided on June 26 -- I think it was the last decision of the Term, but I might be wrong. The really controversial ones come down last, probably because the opinions (and dissents, and answers to dissents) are more difficult to write...

Dave Kopel on McDonald briefs

Posted on November 30, 2009
His commentary on the Congressional brief, on the Institute for Justice brief, of our brief for Academics for the Second Amendment, and the Cato Institute brief.

Corrupt Federal attorneys get nailed

Posted on November 28, 2009
Gist: IRS claimed that certain tax shelters were in fact illegal. A number of people had used them. To simplify life, it was agreed that they would divide into groups (I think based on common characteristics of their situations), each group with one chosen person to sue, and each group would be bound by whether their "champion," as it were, won or lost...

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Phillip Dominguez case over

Posted on November 26, 2009
Memo here. He drove to pick up a friend at Los Angeles International Airport; they were going to a shooting range so he had plenty of arms and ammo. A random search found them, and he was charged with eight felonies, and portrayed in press releases as a terrorism suspect...

Joyce Fdn's Second Amendment Research Center

Posted on November 25, 2009
A comment here noted that Ohio St. University's Second Amendment Research Center (funded by Joyce Foundation, to attack the Second Amendment) appears to have vanished. Looks like Joyce invested over $600,000 in it, but stopped funding after Heller, the Center closed, and Prof...

Bloggers take on Brady Campaign brief

Posted on November 24, 2009
Here's the commentary from Snowflakes in Hell, and from Joe Huffman.

An almost full roster of amici

Posted on November 24, 2009
Right here. Thirty so far. I was especially happy to see the Brief of Constitutional Law Professors. Among those signing on are Michael Kent Curtis, who essentially rescued the privileges or immunities clause during the 1980s. And the Calguns Foundation, taking on Charles Fairman and Raoul Berger, the reasons why Curtis had to perform the rescue.

More amicus briefs

Posted on November 23, 2009
38 State Attorneys General, stressing a due process approach. National Shooting Sports Foundation's amicus, which is mostly devoted to the 2d rather than the 14th Amendment. 900+ State legislators, arguing for due process incorporation. And here's Maryland Arms Collectors' Association, arguing for due process and Nordyke's approach...

Amicus briefs in Chicago case rolling in

Posted on November 23, 2009
Here's the Academics for the Second Amendment amicus. And here's the Congressional amicus, signed by 58 Senators and 251 Congressmen, and filed by Paul Clement. As Solicitor General, in Heller Clement had argued for a lower standard of review; you don't see that here! Our theme in the A2A brief was that talk of "incorporating" a right is a bit misleading...

The waiting....

Posted on September 30, 2009
Supreme Court voted today on whether to take the Chicago gun cases, raising the 14th Amendment issue, as well as a great number of other cases that piled up over the summer break. They will probably, emphasis probably, issue their orders granting and denying review tomorrow, Wednesday...

CERT GRANTED!

Posted on September 30, 2009
Orders here. Discussion at SCOTUSBlog. UPDATE: My guess would be another 5-4. Maybe a little better, if only because the 4 the last time were the liberal wing, and they're going to be hard put to argue against incorporation. On the other hand, they managed to argue against individual right the last time, so mental gymnastics are no problem to them...

Korea sells rifles back

Posted on September 29, 2009
South Korea is preparing to sell 108,000 M-1 Garands and carbines to Americans. I know there is a statute that forbids re-importation of guns transferred as part of Lend-Lease, but South Korea obviously wasn't part of that. Hat tip to reader JustinGA...

Former house up for sale

Posted on September 29, 2009
It's where I used to live, in Falls Church VA. (I don't have any financial interest in it; after my ex died in 2003, it went to our son, who sold it). Update: they didn't have ACORN back in 1982, so we just got it as a house. Originally it had three bedrooms on the main (2d) floor, one in the first floor (the land drops away in the back yard, so that it wasn't really a basement), and two small rooms on the third floor...

Sen. Udall introduces pro-shooting range bill

Posted on September 28, 2009
Story here.

Embarassment for Bloomberg mayor's group

Posted on September 26, 2009
Some mayors are protesting that the group lists their names when they've never joined.

Early ballistics book on Google Books

Posted on September 26, 2009
It's F. W. Mann's The Bullet's Flight from Powder to Target (1909). It's an enormous series of ballistics experiments, performed over 30 years, at a key period (smokeless powder and spitzer bullets coming in). He dabbled in vented barrels, firing elongated bullets from smooth bores, tried to find the most accurate form for a bullet, etc...

Nordyke v. King en banc

Posted on September 24, 2009
One of the good-guy attorneys says the argument went well for them. Of course, there's no predicting a ruling, least of all by a group of 11 people, but this is a good note.

Reducing the ammo shortage

Posted on September 24, 2009
This may help to reduce ammo shortages in States other than California.

That didn't take long

Posted on September 24, 2009
Notice of Docket Activity The following transaction was entered on 09/24/2009 at 4:07:21 PM PDT and filed on 09/24/2009: Case Name:    Nordyke, et al v. King, et al Case Number:    07-15763 Docket Text: Filed order (ALEX KOZINSKI): Submission is vacated pending the Supreme Court?s disposition of Maloney v...

Oral argument in Nordyke v. King audio

Posted on September 24, 2009
Audio here.

Humorous poll findings

Posted on September 24, 2009
Clayton Cramer has a post on a recent political poll. For me, the funniest result is that 5% answered "yes" both to whether Obama is the Antichrist and to whether they voted for him.

blogging from 30,000 feet

Posted on September 23, 2009
Coming back from NRA Board mtg, and the AA aircraft has wifi! Right now about halfway between Chicago and Tucson. BTW, word is that Bill Clinton is no longer NRA's greatest recruiter. Obama has taken his title, and pushed membership back over four million again...

Bloomberg knee-jerk

Posted on September 23, 2009
The Senate passes a provision that will let Amtrak passengers have firearms in checked baggage.... just as airline passengers can. Mayor Bloomberg's reaction: "This has nothing to do with the right to bear arms, and everything to do with keeping our country safe from terrorists...

Quite a ship

Posted on September 21, 2009
Russian billionaire has a ship built, and since he is annoyed by paparazi, fits it with an anti-photography electronic shield. Although I have to wonder if it's a bluff. The laser would have to continuously "paint" the camera, and move about as it did...

An interesting week before us

Posted on September 21, 2009
Sept. 24: Nordyke v. King is argued en banc before the 9th Circuit. Sept. 25-27, Second Amendment Foundation and CCRKBA host the Gun Rights Policy Conference in St. Louis. Sept. 29-30, US Supreme Court votes on, and is likely to announce, whether it takes the Chicago casess.

Beyond belief

Posted on September 16, 2009
ATFE and FBI are in a turf war. Naw, never happens.

Brady's Richard Aborne loses election in Manhattan

Posted on September 16, 2009
CCRKBA release here. Aborne, a former board member of what became the Brady Campaign, ran for DA with stress on his gun control advocacy, and the endorsement of many such groups. He got only 26% of the vote. In Manhattan, no less.

A pleasing read

Posted on September 15, 2009
Dennis Henigan, of Brady Campaign, in the Huffington Post. Why is it pleasing? Well, the title is "Obama and the Gun Lobby: A Policy of Appeasement?" Oh, and the content consists of things like "Is it a stretch to envision President Obama as the Neville Chamberlain of the gun issue? Consider the record so far...

Test of buck in a rifled shotgun

Posted on September 14, 2009
It really gives meaning to the term scattergun.

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