Constitutional Law

Oral argument in US v. Hayes

Available in pdf here. Government contends the federal bar on gun possession after misdemeanor DV conviction applies to a person who was convicted of ordinary battery, not requiring as an element that it was against an intimate partner, so long as the government can show at the federal trial that it was against an intimate partner.

Impressions: the Solicitor General's advocate shows speed and mettle, but by page 10 knows she has probably lost Scalia and Ginsberg (that combination hurts!) and CJ Roberts. By p. 14 she's lost Kennedy. P. 16, maybe Stevens, too.

Then the defendant's attorney gets up, and they climb on him, too. Breyer is leaning the other way, and possibly Ginsberg and Alito. Kennedy gets in a good and very true line -- "It seems to me that although this statute is a mess anyway..."

Rebuttal: government has definitely lost Roberts and Scalia, the rest are unclear.

Full post as published by Of Arms and the Law on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).