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Supreme Court declares Second Amendment protects individual right

By Douglas A. Berman

The much-anticipated Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment in Heller has been released, and it appears to be the expected 5-4 split decision with Justice Scalia writing the majority opinion for the Court.  Here is the early report from SCOTUSblog:The Court has released the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), on whether the District?s firearms regulations ? which bar the possession of handguns and require shotguns and rifles to be kept disassembled or under trigger lock ? violate the Second Amendment. The ruling below, which struck down the provisions in question, is affirmed.  Justice Scalia wrote the opinion. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg. As regular readers know and as explained in prior posts, I think this ruling could have a profound impact on federal criminal law and sentencing, though the exact terms of the majority opinion will determine how significant this impact will be...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 26, 2008 (boomark / email).