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Supreme Court watching, Second Amendment edition
By this incredibly handy chart of cases eleven Second Amendment petitions for cert were distributed for conference (where the vote will be taken). Yet the Court's order list for Monday's conference shows none were acted upon. How to read this?
My SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess) is that the majority is having trouble deciding which one(s) to pick. They took MYSRPA when it was hardly cert-worthy (an ordinance adopted by one city only) and now, having gotten it off the docket, are looking at a really big field of cases and debating which should be the one. Should they take on "may issue" permits to carry? If so, which of the five cases is best, or should they take more than one? Or should they be more cautious and take on a narrow case such as microstamping requirements? Maybe they should take into account the known quality of the attorney ... but they're all known to be good. I suspect that's the problem, not whether to take a 2A case, but which ones or ones?
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I suspect it would be easier to choose one case, make a clear decision, then remand the rest back to the various circuits with directions to decide anew using the standards provided. That would have worked well with NYSRPA, since it was an outlier of a law, if the city & state had not muddied the waters with their mootness games.
Until the SCOTUS is solidly Conservative I believe they will kick all the cases down the road.
I hope I'm wrong, but that hes been the status quo far too long.
I agree with Geoff.
They won't take a single one.
They have had years to tell the lower courts to apply Heller v. DC and they have punted every time. What is different now?
All the Second Amendment means is that you can have a pistol locked in a safe in your house to "shoot a home invader" after getting it registered, paying for a gun license, undergoing a background check and training.
It means nothing else at this point.
Why would they not combine them as much as possible? Take all the "Shall issue" cases, combine them and settle it, etc?