Does Second Amendment protect right to carry gun outside home? SCOTUS declines to decide the issue

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that contended the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a gun in public. The New York law at issue requires gun owners seeking a “concealed carry” permit to demonstrate a special need for self-protection, report the New York Times…

Apr 15, 2013 2:57 PM CDT

Quoting Scalia, ABA president says Second Amendment rights have limits

In congressional testimony submitted Wednesday, ABA President Laurel Bellows said the ABA has a long history of supporting efforts to reduce gun violence. The association’s first call for more careful regulation of firearms sales: after the assassination of President Kennedy. Since then, the ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates has approved…

Jan 30, 2013 9:06 PM CST

Cert Petitions Claim Second Amendment Protects Right to Carry Weapons Outside Home

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked in two separate cases to rule that the Second Amendment protects a right to carry weapons outside the home. Lower courts have been ruling against gun-rights advocates since a pair of Supreme Court decisions found the Second Amendment protected individuals’ right to keep…

Aug 15, 2011 1:02 PM CDT

Despite 2nd Amendment Cases, Firearms Codes Are Moving Targets

Dec 1, 2010 7:20 AM CST

Law Prof’s Tweet Cited in Brief by Second Amendment Lawyer

On Thursday, University of California, Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler was tweeting about his favorite Tony Curtis movie and an undocumented immigrant housekeeper hired by a California gubernatorial candidate. But Winkler is getting more high-profile notice for an Aug. 16 tweet because it was cited in a brief filed…

Oct 1, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

2nd Circuit Strikes FCC Expletive Rule, Says Blanket Ban on F-Word & Others Violates 1st Amendment

Saying that a blanket ban on all use of certain expletives on television is unconstitutionally vague and chills the right of free speech, a federal appeals court has struck down a Federal Communications Commission policy that any use of profanity referring to sex or excrement is inherently indecent and could…

Jul 13, 2010 6:01 PM CDT

Supreme Court Extends Second Amendment to the States, Casts Doubt on Chicago Handgun Ban

Developing: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments, a ruling that casts doubt on Chicago’s gun regulations. The New York Times calls the ruling “an enormous symbolic victory for supporters of gun rights” while the Washington Post says it may be “more…

Jun 28, 2010 2:14 PM CDT

2nd Circuit: Ban on Law Firm Nicknames Violates First Amendment

A federal appeals court has struck down many of New York’s lawyer advertising restrictions on First Amendment grounds. The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the opinion (PDF) on Friday, the New York Law Journal reports. The court struck down bans on: • Nicknames such as…

Mar 15, 2010 12:23 PM CDT

Does Second Amendment Apply to States? Scalia Said No in 1997 Book

When the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments March 2 on whether the Second Amendment applies to the states, court observers will be watching to see if Justice Antonin Scalia’s views have changed since he wrote a 1997 book. Scalia wrote that the Second Amendment does not limit arms control by…

Feb 22, 2010 11:30 AM CST

Supreme Court Accepts New Second Amendment Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Chicago case that asks whether the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. The name plaintiff in the Chicago case is Otis McDonald, an elderly man who keeps a shotgun at home to protect himself from gangs, the Chicago Tribune…

Sep 30, 2009 2:18 PM CDT

Will Second Amendment Be Incorporated Through Citizenship Clause?

Federal appeals courts hearing gun rights cases after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling last year in District of Columbia v. Heller are confronting an old issue: whether the amendment applies to restrict state and local laws under the incorporation doctrine. Heller found that the Second Amendment protected an…

Jun 17, 2009 11:49 AM CDT

Successful Second Amendment Legal Team Seeks $3.5M in Fees

The legal team that won a U.S. Supreme Court Second Amendment ruling is seeking $3.5 million in legal fees. Lawyer Alan Gura says in a motion filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., that he and two other lawyers worked more than 3,000 hours on the case, Legal Times reports.…

Aug 27, 2008 5:54 PM CDT

Appeals Court Rejects Militia Organizer’s Second Amendment Claim

A federal appeals court has ruled a man who organized his own militia did not have a Second Amendment right to possess a machine gun. Hollis Wayne Fincher had argued that his Washington County Militia was a well-regulated militia that was protected by the amendment. A federal judge rejected his…

Aug 14, 2008 10:50 AM CDT

Second Amendment Opinion May Lack Firepower

Harvard Law School professor Mark Tushnet believes Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent majority opinion striking down a ban on handguns in the home was a compromise decision, crafted to appeal to a swing voter such as Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. As evidence of a compromise, Tushnet points to Scalia’s statement in…

Aug 8, 2008 11:18 PM CDT

Plaintiff Who Won Second Amendment Case Files New Gun Suit

The plaintiff who won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on handguns in the home has filed a new lawsuit challenging Washington, D.C.’s new gun registration system. Plaintiff Dick Heller seeks to overturn provisions that include a requirement for ballistics tests of registered handguns and restrictions on…

Jul 29, 2008 6:14 PM CDT