4. Didn’t pass up the opportunity to bash the Second Amendment
Democrats never miss an opportunity to push their gun control agenda. A junior senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse, said in his opening statement:
The Court also helps big business against unions: Harris v. Quinn, 5-4, all Republicans. Last year, Friedrichs was teed up as a 5-4 body blow against unions, when Justice Scalia died. With a new 5-4 Court, they’ll be back.
Throw in Hobby Lobby: Corporations have religious rights that supersede health care for their employees, 5-4, all Republicans.
Add Heller and McDonald, reanimating for gun manufacturers a legal theory a former Chief Justice once called a “fraud”, 5-4, all Republicans.
This 5-4 rampage is not driven by principle. Over and over, judicial principles – even so-called “conservative” ones – are overrun on the Court’s road to the happy result.
Stare decisis: That’s a big laugh. These were law-changing decisions, many upending a century or more of law and precedent.
Textualism: The Second Amendment uses the military term “arms” and talks about militias, but never mind that when the gun lobby wants something.
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