June 28, 2010

Democrats, Kagan, and the Second Amendment

From Roger Pilon:
Today Politico Arena asks:
What are the political implications for Democrats and for the Kagan hearings of today’s Supreme Court gun decision?
My response:

The Supreme Court’s decision today that the Second Amendment applies against the states cannot be helpful to Democrats in the upcoming elections or to Elena Kagan in her confirmation hearings. Most Court-watchers expected the decision to come out as it did, yet the dissent by the Court’s four liberals speaks volumes. How could other rights in the Bill of Rights be good against the states, but not this right? Given the quality of their argument, the conclusion that the Court’s liberals are picking and choosing their rights on political grounds is inescapable.
This last part cannot be stressed enough. There was a left/right consensus for incorporation. The liberal wing of the court completely ignored this consensus out of pure animus towards the right of armed self defense, Constitution be damned. Republican senators would do well to hammer Kagan on this point over and over again.