Federal Judiciary

D.C. v. Heller: Post-Argument Round-Up

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

Here is a collection of some initial reports and impressions of today’s argument in D.C. v. Heller. As always, though, we’ll continue to update our links as more become available.

Washington Post reporter Robert Barnes’ initial article is available online, here. Mark Sherman writes for the AP that the Court “appeared ready Tuesday to endorse the view that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own guns.” David G. Savage’s news update for the LA Times suggests that, based on today’s argument, the Justices seem likely to strike down the district’s handgun ban. Find James Vicini’s reporting for Reuters here, and Bill Mears’ for CNN, here.

Many of the bloggers who listened to the argument agree that a majority of the justices will hold that there is some kind of an individual right to own a gun. Tony Mauro’s post at the BLT is entitled, “The Second Amendment: An Individual Right, but the Right to Do What?” In a Q&A on the WSJ’s law blog, Jess Bravin suggests that perhaps “the Court may be headed toward the position of the Bush administration.”

At the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr’s comments are posted as he listens to the C-Span feed of the argument. Jan Crawford Greenburg offers her impressions of the Justices’ questions and reactions, here, at her blog, Legalities. Over at Concurring Opinions, Mike O’Shea predicts what the opinions in the Guns case may look like.

By way of audio analysis, Nina Totenberg filed this preview of the case on NPR’s Morning Edition, while this podcast from the Cato Institute features Bob Levy discussing the DOJ’s brief in the case.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 18, 2008 (boomark / email).