Constitutional Law

Al Gore effect on a continental scale

Posted on February 10, 2010
In the wake of DC's record-breaking winter storm, followed by a blizzard, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works cancelled planned hearings on "Global Warming Impacts, Including Public Health, in the United States."

Lively month coming up in Supreme Court

Posted on February 10, 2010
Leading up to the argument in Chicago, set for March 2, we have: Carr v. US, argued on February 24. Carr was a convicted sex offender who moved to another State before the Federal statute requiring registration after an interstate move was enacted. He was later arrested for not having registered after enactment of the law...

Gun limits in wake of snow storm

Posted on February 08, 2010
In the wake of the huge snow storm, the town of King, N.C., banned sale of alcohol, firearms, and ammo, and carrying of firearms . The alcohol ban was lifted in time for the Super Bowl. So far as I can see, no other jurisdiction (including DC's Maryland suburbs, Maryland not having very pro-gun statutes), did anything of the type.

Annoyance while hunting

Posted on February 05, 2010
A perfectly clean shot, and this guy nearly ruined it by crouching on the other side of the deer. Finally he moved to the front of it and gave me a safe shot. He was quite obnoxious after he regained consciousness, even though I took out my canteen and offered to help clean the mess off his face.

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Amusing recollection

Posted on February 05, 2010
I just had a recollection-- you've got to understand that after each day of trial, the clerk prepares, and the judge edits, a "Minute Entry." It's not a transcript, just a series of notes about motions made and rulings given. Some months ago, at the courthouse, a prosecutor told me "I never knew Judge ____ had a sense of humor, but now I know he does...

Firearms possession bans in Delaware housing authority apartments

Posted on February 04, 2010
The Caesar Rodney Institute blog reports that the Delaware State Sportsmen's Association is prepared to sue against the divisions of the State housing authority that impose lease conditions forbidding firearms possession.

Just in time for tax season...

Posted on February 03, 2010
IRS is in the market for sixty combat shotguns. "Remington parkerized shotguns, with fourteen inch barrel, modified choke, Wilson Combat Ghost Ring rear sight and XS4 Contour Bead front sight, Knoxx Reduced Recoil Adjustable Stock, and Speedfeed ribbed black forend, are designated as the only shotguns authorized for IRS duty ...

NY Times on Arizona proposals

Posted on February 02, 2010
Story here. I find the story a bit unusual ... let's see, last session the legislature allowed CCW permittees to carry in establishments that serve liquor, so long as they don't drink, and legalized defensive display of a weapon. This session the proposal is to end the license requirement (in a "shall issue" State) for carrying concealed...

ATF agent sues agency, and it sues him

Posted on February 02, 2010
Some interesting developments over at Clean Up ATF. An agent had infiltrated the Hell's Angels and Aryan Brotherhood, they managed to find out where he lived, and he and his family got credible violent threats. The agency agreed to put him in the LEOs' version of witness protection and kept screwing up...

Gun rights doing well ... in India

Posted on February 01, 2010
Story here, in the Wash Post (which is pretty extraordinary in itself). "Verma said he plans to join the recently formed National Association for Gun Rights India to lobby against new gun controls that the government has proposed, blaming the proliferation of both licensed and illegal weapons for a rise in crime...

Unity

Posted on January 31, 2010
There are three ways to reach Second Amendment incorporation, at least two of which have present and powerful advocates. I can only say that I'm in correspondence with both, and they really wish there could be an end to to conflict. Bottom line: if the three routes to incorporation each got two votes, it's still a 6-3 and a win, the other side is left to ponder that "almost" only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades, and the winner who favors one route or another has some votes (for the first time in my lifetime) on which to build...

VCDL patch in an unusual location

Posted on January 31, 2010
A Der Spiegel Online image of two rescuers evacuating an injured Haitian. It sure looks like the seal of Virginia Citizens' Defense League, a blue minuteman image against a white background surrounded by a red circle, and in the circle white letters forming four words.

Officer handcuffs victim

Posted on January 31, 2010
A CCW permitee phones 911 after he finds his office was broken into. When an officer responds, he informs her that he has a CCW permit. She asks has a firearm, he says yes, so she handcuffs him , removes his pistol, and locks it in her vehicle. To be fair, she does eventually investigate the burglary, too...

Quick analysis of reply briefs

Posted on January 30, 2010
I read Alan Gura's brief last night while waiting to meet with my surgeon (1. I will live. 2. it wasn't much fun) and NRA's brief while bombed in the aftermath of that. So I went back this morning to read and plot things out. One thing is clear: the briefs give an excellent spread of arguments...

Human end of the Chicago case

Posted on January 30, 2010
Here's the story. Interesting. Lead plaintiff, Otis McDonald, is a 76 year old grandfather and lives with his wife in a risky neighborhood. He's been burglarized repeatedly and once threatened with death. He has shotguns, but can't keep them on the nightstand when he turns in...

An analysis of Chicago's legal position

Posted on January 30, 2010
Right here.

Reminds me of my government days

Posted on January 29, 2010
At Interior (1982-1992) I chiefly represented Fish and Wildlife Service. And this article reminds me of the type of strange cases we had. "A German man who stuffed 44 small lizards into his underwear before trying to board a flight has been sentenced to prison in New Zealand for plundering the country's protected species...

Reply briefs are online

Posted on January 29, 2010
Right here. I've read Gura's, and it is first rate, now reading NRA's. As with the opening briefs, it's a good spread, with Alan's tackling privileges or immunities, and NRA tackling due process. (I've been intending to put up an explanatory post on these issues, will do over the weekend)...

Subsequent history

Posted on January 27, 2010
After that article, the sequence went something like this: Dave Caplan published one in 1977, Don Kates and Steve Halbrook and Joyce Malcolm came in in 1978-79. Halbrook, Malcolm, Kates and I put out a number of articles in the lesser law reviews over the next few years...

Yet another trip in the time machine

Posted on January 27, 2010
Here's an OCR'd version (there may be typos) of my 1974 Chicago-Kent Law Review article on the Second Amendment. So far as I can see, it's the only online text of David T. Hardy, Of Arms and the Law, 51 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 62 (1974). By modern standards, it's quite limited...

Trip back in the time machine

Posted on January 26, 2010
Found something in an old archive. A copy of the manuscript (original, it has green pencil edits by the law review editors) for my 1974 article, the first law review article to argue for an individual rights reading of the Second Amendment. It's in a manila envelope, return address "Knox, Box 3030, Prescott AZ" (click on thumbnail to get full size)...

Challenge to DC's ban on carrying

Posted on January 25, 2010
Brian Doherty has an article on it in Reason Today. Heller was a "keep arms" case, this will be the "bear arms" one. Hat tip to reader Mark Noble (@MarkNoble on Twitter, for those who like followups)...

Internal ATF news

Posted on January 24, 2010
It's getting lively over at CleanUpATF.org. A deputy director who gets his "nails done" on agency time, supervisors grabbing the fanciest seized vehicles for their own use, a supervisor who left his government business card at a cat house, a large portion of headquarters flying off to Vegas for the SHOT Show, etc.

Strangeness in Citizens United case

Posted on January 22, 2010
I could see an argument (were this a State case) that a corporation isn't a "citizen" for privilege or immunities purposes, or a "person" for due process purposes. I could even see (altho I have problems with it) an argument that a corporation is entitled to lessened First Amendment protections...

Good news re: Gary Tudesko expulsion

Posted on January 22, 2010
Good news. 17 year old Gary Tudesko had been expelled from Willows High School in California, after he went duck hunting, then on to class, and left his shotgun locked in a vehicle parked off campus. NRA got Chuck Michel's firm to serve as his advocate, and today the Glenn County Board of Education reversed the expulsion order.

Citizens United

Posted on January 21, 2010
The Court this morning handed down its ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. A preliminary skim: the ban on corporate "electioneering" (corporate funds for an independent expenditure, mentioning a candidate, within 30-60 days of an election) is struck down...

Balkanization goes to town on Chicago's brief

Posted on January 21, 2010
Right here. A few samples: "In the city?s attempt to preserve its weapons ban, it proves too much, essentially urging the Supreme Court to find that protection of the Bill of Rights and other fundamental liberties against state infringement has no basis in constitutional text or history, and is instead achieved solely by judicial implication...

New article by Randy Barnett

Posted on January 20, 2010
"Whence Comes Section One? The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment." It explores the many ways in which abolitionist legal thought influenced the 14th Amendment. The leadership of the 39th Congress were abolitionists to a man, and shared legal understandings that did not require explanation...

Presentation on Chicago case

Posted on January 19, 2010
For any readers lucky enough to be at the SHOT Show in Vegas, here's an SAF press release: SAF SCHEDULES SHOT SHOW PRESS CONFERENCE ON CHICAGO GUN BAN CASE The Second Amendment Foundation will hold a special press conference during the Las Vegas SHOT Show on Wednesday, January 20, 11:30 a...

lawsuit: national airgun pre-emption

Posted on January 18, 2010
Snowflakes in Hell has a post on it. Interesting -- I didn't even know Federal pre-emption of airgun regulations existed!

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