Scalia Likely Author of Gun Opinion, Blog Says
In a post titled “Wild Opinion Speculation,” SCOTUSblog says it appears “exceptionally likely” that Justice Antonin Scalia will write the opinion in the Second Amendment gun case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
That’s good news for those who support the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms, the blog says. At issue in District of Columbia v. Heller is whether a District of Columbia handgun ban violates the amendment.
When the court heard oral arguments in the case in March, justices considered the meaning of the amendment, which reads: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Scalia offered his interpretation of the wording: “Since we need a militia, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
SCOTUSblog says Heller is the only opinion remaining from the March sitting, and Scalia is the only justice who has not written a majority opinion from the sitting.
