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25th August 2009, 20:55
A federal appeals court on September 24 will hear a high-profile gun rights case that's a leading candidate to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to decide whether the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to "keep and bear arms" restricts only the federal government -- the current state of affairs -- or whether it can be used to strike down intrusive state and local laws too.
A three-judge panel ruled that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. But now a larger Ninth Circuit panel will rehear the case, a procedure reserved only for issues of exceptional importance, which means the earlier decision could be upheld or overruled.
Two other circuits have said the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, a legal term known as "incorporation." If the Ninth Circuit's en banc panel continues to disagree with its peers, the Supreme Court almost certainly would step in.
The Ninth Circuit case involves Russell and Sallie Nordyke, who run a gun show business that would like to rent Alameda County's fairgrounds (the county includes Oakland and is across the bay from San Francisco). After being blocked, they sued. The author of the ordinance in question, then-county supervisor Mary King, actually claimed such shows are nothing but "a place for people to display guns for worship as deities for the collectors who treat them as icons of patriotism."
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. PT in the federal courthouse at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco.
Link to article (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/25/taking_liberties/entry5263569.shtml)
Anyone but me have the disquieting feeling they did this on purpose? Found against the Nordykes, but found incorporation of 2A, knowing that the incorporation could be struck down later by the full circuit en banc, but splitting the 2A issue from the Nordykes' fate so they'd have no 2A related standing to appeal to SCOTUS, and thus any forthcoming appeal could contain no 2A issues?
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to decide whether the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to "keep and bear arms" restricts only the federal government -- the current state of affairs -- or whether it can be used to strike down intrusive state and local laws too.
A three-judge panel ruled that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. But now a larger Ninth Circuit panel will rehear the case, a procedure reserved only for issues of exceptional importance, which means the earlier decision could be upheld or overruled.
Two other circuits have said the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, a legal term known as "incorporation." If the Ninth Circuit's en banc panel continues to disagree with its peers, the Supreme Court almost certainly would step in.
The Ninth Circuit case involves Russell and Sallie Nordyke, who run a gun show business that would like to rent Alameda County's fairgrounds (the county includes Oakland and is across the bay from San Francisco). After being blocked, they sued. The author of the ordinance in question, then-county supervisor Mary King, actually claimed such shows are nothing but "a place for people to display guns for worship as deities for the collectors who treat them as icons of patriotism."
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. PT in the federal courthouse at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco.
Link to article (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/25/taking_liberties/entry5263569.shtml)
Anyone but me have the disquieting feeling they did this on purpose? Found against the Nordykes, but found incorporation of 2A, knowing that the incorporation could be struck down later by the full circuit en banc, but splitting the 2A issue from the Nordykes' fate so they'd have no 2A related standing to appeal to SCOTUS, and thus any forthcoming appeal could contain no 2A issues?