by The Court found for McDonald that the 14th Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment to the states. The majority opinion bases this incorporation on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Justice Thomas writes a concurring opinion arguing for the Privileges and Immunities Clause as the reason for incorporating the Second Amendment.
incorporation
McDonald v. Chicago Decision Due Monday
The Supreme Court released seven of the remaining 11 undecided cases today according to the SCOTUS Blog. McDonald v. Chicago, the case that we hope will incorporate the Second Amendment to the states, was not one of them.
It looks like Monday is the day. That is the last day of this year’s October Term. Also, since Justice Ginsburg issued the opinion in Skilling v. United States, the betting is that Justice Alito will write the decision in the McDonald case.
Given that he was called “Machine Gun Sammy” by the Brady Campaign during his confirmation hearings, I hope this will be good for our side. Sebastian at the Snowflakes in Hell is ambivalent about that given that Justice Alito is a Jersey boy and is not part of the gun culture like Justice Scalia. Time will tell.
Awaiting the McDonald v. Chicago Decision
McDonald v. Chicago, the case that we hope will incorporate Second Amendment rights at the state and local level, is still one of the few cases yet to be decided for the Supreme Court’s current term. Custom has it that each justice is assigned at least one opinion per two-week sitting.
The February sitting has two unresolved cases – the Chicago case and one involving the former Enron CEO Jeffery Skilling – and two justices who have not authored an opinion for that sitting. They are Justices Alito and Ginsburg. Dave Hardy has more at the Of Arms and the Law Blog.
The SCOTUS Blog has the statistics on each of the sittings for this October term of the Supreme Court. Note that this “stat-pack” hasn’t been updated to include decisions released today.
It should be noted that Justice Alito was in the majority on the Heller Case and Justice Ginsburg voted against the Second Amendment as an individual right. However, we could all end up being surprised by having Justice Ginsburg write an opinion incorporating the Second Amendment based upon the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment. And pigs can fly, too.