 |
|
[T]he enshrinement of
constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the
table.... Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a
society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained
police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious
problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not
the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct. – Antonin
Scalia
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1254601]
|
Let us not forget
Antonin Scalia who upheld the Second Amendment:
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.nraila.org/articles/20160219/us-supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-1936-2016
U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Antonin Scalia 1936-2016
Friday, February 19, 2016
Longtime U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a stalwart defender of the U.S.
Constitution and author of the critically important majority opinion in the
District of Columbia v. Heller case, passed away on Feb. 13 at the age of 79.
 |
|
NRA thanks Antonin
Scalia
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://twitter.com/NRA/status/698656250431541248/photo/1]
|
When Justice Elena Kagan was
dean of Harvard Law School, she explained Justice Scalia’s monumental
influence: “His views on textualism and originalism, his views on the role of
judges in our society, on the practice of judging, have really transformed the
terms of legal debate in this country.” In short, “He is the justice who has
had the most important impact over the years on how we think and talk about
law.”
As a law professor at the University
of Virginia and the University of Chicago, as a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court
of Appeals, and then for 30 years as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,
Antonin Scalia was guided by two complementary principles: textualism and
originalism.
“Textualism” means that whenever
courts interpret any legal document—a Constitution, a statute or a
contract—judges should consider first and foremost the precise words of the
document. So in Heller, Scalia observed that the Second Amendment protects “the
right of the people.” Justice Scalia’s landmark
opinion in Heller affirmed the individual Second Amendment right, including the
right to own handguns for self-defense. That decision was made possible not
just by what Justice Scalia did in 2008, but by a career dedicated to defending
the Constitution.
Justice Scalia’s landmark opinion in Heller affirmed the individual Second Amendment right, including the right to own handguns for self-defense. That decision was made possible not just by what Justice Scalia did in 2008, but by a career dedicated to defending the Constitution.
He explained that the exact same
phrase also appears elsewhere in the Bill of Rights: in the First Amendment,
“the right of the people peaceably to assemble;” in the Fourth Amendment, “the
right of the people to be secure” from unreasonable searches and seizures. In
the First and Fourth amendments, everyone agrees that “the right of the people”
refers to an ordinary individual right belonging to all Americans. Thus, the
text of the Constitution shows that the Second Amendment is clearly an
individual right for all Americans.
Justice Scalia’s other guiding
principle was the original public meaning of the Constitution.
What did a given constitutional
provision mean to the American people when they ratified it and made it “the
supreme law of the land”? Justice Scalia did not invent originalism, an
interpretive technique that is as old as the Constitution. But when President
Ronald Reagan nominated Scalia in 1986, originalism had been in eclipse for
decades. Supposedly, originalism was old-fashioned and outdated.
Over the course of the next three
decades, Justice Scalia would explain that originalism, while not perfect, is
the best method for judges to discern and enforce the law that the people
created and to guard against judges arbitrarily imposing their own policy
preferences under the guise of legal interpretation.
Justice Scalia’s majority opinion in
Heller cited a mountain of public evidence that Americans in the Founding Era
and the Early Republic understood the Second Amendment to guarantee an
individual right. In dissent, Justice Stevens had little to work with, and he
was reduced to arguing that even if the Second Amendment protects an individual
right, it should yield to whatever the government considers necessary for
public safety. The majority rejected that approach. “[T]he enshrinement of
constitutional rights,” Scalia wrote, “necessarily takes certain policy choices
off the table.”
Justice Scalia’s other
guiding principle was the original public meaning of the Constitution.Unlike some previous
Supreme Court justices, Scalia was neither pompous nor aloof. A father of nine
and a grandfather of 28, he told young lawyers that there is more to life than
work, and they should remember their duties to family and community.
Justice Scalia was not only an ardent
and brilliant defender of Second Amendment rights, he exercised those freedoms
as a marksman and avid hunter. Indeed, his sudden death, which stunned all
those who cherish our guaranteed civil rights, occurred while he was on a
hunting trip.
If our Second Amendment endures into
the 22nd century, Justice Antonin Scalia will deserve much of the credit, and
he will be studied and emulated by judges and law students. Today, we can be
thankful for the legacy of a great justice and an exemplary man.
 |
OTHER LINKS:
No comments:
Post a Comment