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Interesting insight on one citation in Heller
The Michigan Bar Journal has an article, by Federal District Judge Avern Cohn, on how the Heller majority came to cite an 1829 case that equated the right to arms with freedom of speech.
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So he is accusing Scalia of cooking the books, so to speak? And what is his opinion of Griswald?
And why use a Russian Nagant pistol for the frontispiece...why not an American Colt, Smith or Remington of the same vintage? Sacrilege.
For the record, the brief that judge's piece says swayed Justice Scalia is "Brief of the Cato Institute and History Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm," with C. Kevin Marshall as Counsel of Record. Marshall is a partner at Jones Day; he clerked for Justice Thomas, has his J.D. from U. of Chicago, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Malcolm is -- well, anyone who needs explanation of who Joyce Malcolm is needs to go back to step one in the RKBA academic work.
The early 19th Century opinions annoy me to the extent that the Judges use language such as "The Constitution of the United States also GRANTS to the citizens the right to keep and bear arms. But the GRANT of this PRIVILEGE cannot be construed..." We so argue that the Constution at best "recognised", "Sets forth" or "protects" the right to Keep and Bear Arms...(along with the other enumerated basic rights)......and then to characterize the aforestated "right" then as a mere "privilege" in the following line is troubling. Obviously these Judges had no part in the Constitution, but one would think a mere 40-50 years after it was argued and passed the next generation of above average lawyers and Justices would have a better grasp of history and what was accomplished by our leaders.
A Carter appointee trying to make light of Justice Scalia's citation to US v. Shelden for valid polint. So what's new?