Willbert’s Idiot Free Zone

Yesterday, June26, 2008, the United States Supreme Court actually decided that the 2nd amendment means what it says. Yes folks, a miracle has occurred. What is nonetheless disturbing is that 4 of our Justices did not vote to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I find that sickening. Here is a quick rundown of those Justices voting for and against:

Opinion of the Court:

1. Scalia (author of opinion)
2. Roberts
3. Kennedy
4. Alito
5. Thomas

Dissentors:

1. Stevens (author of dissent)
2. Souter
3. Ginsburg
4. Breyer (also filing an individual dissent)

So what does all this mean? Well, let’s set aside the despicable thought that 4 justices in the highest court of our land refused to uphold a basic constitutional right. That will be for another day. Anyhow, the basic case was a special police officer in the District of Columbia wished to keep a firearm at his home. He was prohibited from doing so by District Law. I learned that the law was not an outright ban of firearms, it merely made illegal the possession of an unregistered firearm. One problem though. They also made it illegal to register one. In it’s beautifully written opinion, the SCOTUS ruled that the 2nd amendment is a right for individuals (glad we’ve settled that one) and that the District of Columbias laws regarding firearms are wholly unconstitutional and were struck down.

I’m just itching to see what else comes of this. What a victory. It’s about time we’ve won one.

By the way, here is a link to the complete slip opinion, which is definately worth a read. I especially enjoyed Justice Scalia’s comments at the bottom. The opinion is quite lengthy, but the first few pages are a syllabus written for us regular smart people.