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Criminal mistakes in analysis of Heller hysteria

By Douglas A. Berman

With the Supreme Court's oral argument in the Second Amendment Heller case now only a few days away, the lawyer talk about the case is heating up.  Of particular note is this new column from Robert Novak suggesting that the Bush Administration is unsupportive of SG Paul Clement position in Heller.  That column has, in turn, produced additional analysis over at SCOTUSblog and at Volokh. Sadly, as is all too common in all the buzz to date over Heller and the Second Amendment, none of the analysis considers the criminal justice litigation that the Justice Department justifiably fears if the Supreme Court were to recognize a robust individual right to keep and bear arms.  As I have suggested in a number of prior posts, a major pro-gun-rights ruling in Heller could mean a new (and viable?) constitutional claim raised in every felon-in-possession prosecution and also could mean additional challenges to gun-possession-based sentencing enhancements...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 13, 2008 (boomark / email).