The Sources Cited by the Supreme Court in Bruen
Originally published on Reason.com This post lists all the sources cited by the majority opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The cites provide useful guidance to lower courts for analyzing Second Amendment cases. Since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Bruen decision, government lawyers, with the assistance of gun prohibition lobbies, have been […]
The Legal History of Bans on Firearms and Bowie Knives before 1900
Originally published on Reason.com Bowie knives are back in constitutional law news these days, after a very long absence. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision instructs lower courts to look to U.S. legal history to see what sorts of restrictions on Second Amendment rights are consistent with the mainstream American legal tradition. According to the Court, […]
Restoring the right to bear arms, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen
Originally published: Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Aug. 8, 2022. Who among us is not eagerly awaiting the September 16 publication of the annual Cato Supreme Court Review? Among the articles I look forward to reading are the VC’s Ilya Somin on the vaccine mandate cases and Jonathan Adler on West Virginia v. E.P.A. If you want to […]
The new Supreme Court: not conservative, but no longer liberal
The court’s decisions upholding state vax mandates gave us a hint that it was about to overturn Roe.
The deeper significance of Justice Thomas’s 2nd amendment opinion
Justice Thomas’s opinion affirms that the scope of the right to keep and bear arms is fixed by the words of the amendment. The law is reflected in those words, not in some judge’s idea of what is important.
Amnesty International Brief Against Right To Bear Arms
Originally published on Reason.com As the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to enforce the Second Amendment right to “bear arms” in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, an amicus brief from Amnesty International argues that doing so would violate international law. In this post, I’ll examine the arguments in the AI brief. Back in […]
