For those who followed the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, one of the most common Republican lines of questioning — outside of the infamous “wise Latina” comment — was a discussion of the post-Heller cases considering whether the Second Amendment and the Court’s Heller holding that the Amendment protects an individual’s right to “bare bear arms” applies — through incorporation — to the states. [Apparently, you can only make the jokes about that so many times before you actually write it. Ugh. -Ed.]
The Second Circuit’s Maloney case, a case in which Judge Sotomayor sat on the panel, held that prior Supreme Court precedent prevented the circuit from incorporating the right. The Seventh Circuit, using language more appreciated by Republican senators, reached the same conclusion, and the Ninth Circuit reached the contrary conclusion. One of the cases is expected by most to reach the Supreme Court.
Ohio A.G. Cordray
Ohio Attorney General Rich Cordray, a Democrat up for re-election in 2010, has laid down his marker on the side of incorporation. He recently said in an interview:
The US Supreme Court confronted that issue two years ago in the Heller case and determined, I think correctly, that it is an individual right. But that case only involved the District of Columbia, so now there are further cases, as you probably know, that are coming up through the courts to determine whether that right will be incorporated against the states. There was a recent decision by the 2nd Circuit in the Northeast, and the 7th Circuit in the Midwest. And most recently in the 7th Circuit case, which is being appealed to the United State Supreme Court, we joined a brief authored by the state of Texas arguing that this is an individual right which should be incorporated. That is maybe the most significant issue pending right now in the 2nd Amendment area.
Good to know.
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Chris Geidner is the senior political writer at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found
Talk about putting politics over principles. A Democrat Ohio AG should never agree with Texas about guns! He still has my vote, but I’m a little disappointed.
Matt, do you see the irony in criticizing “politics over principle” and then arguing for your very own “politics over principle” rule? Shouldn’t Ohio’s AG, Democrat or Republican, join Texas or not based on whether Texas is right or not in principle?
If Cordray is wrong in principle, explain why. As it stands, all you’re doing is insisting that he put YOUR politics above principle instead..