Supreme Court gets it right... barely

The supreme court produced its verdict on Thursday June 26, 2008 in the case of Washington DC v. Heller. In it, they upheld that the DC gun ban was unconstitutional and that the right to keep and bear arms was an individual right. This right is now the same as all of the other ones in the Bill of Rights in that it applies to individuals and keeps governments from improper use of their authority in the oppression of a free people.

This is wonderful news.

Yet, it needs to be noted that we should be horrified. The vote was 5-4. 5-4. That vote means that we were one Justice away from loosing our second amendment rights. One vote. There were four people on the bench that thought it was perfectly OK to not allow people to own a functional firearm and that outlawing pistols was perfectly fine. One vote.

Now, we need to think very carefully about this... there will be vacancies on the Supreme Court during the next Presidency. Possibly as many as three. If Barack Obama gets the presidency he has pledged to put Justices on the bench "...who have enough empathy, enough feeling, for what ordinary people are going through." He has pledged to put people on the bench like Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David H. Souter... all of whom voted in the minority on this case with the fourth vote being Paul Stevens.

If Obama is president, we will loose our right to keep and bear arms.

This is not a threat. This is fact. If he is able to appoint justices such as Souter, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Stevens to the vacancies then the next vote can be as high as 6-3... but in the opposite direction. At this moment, lawsuits are being filed in New York City, San Fransisco, and Chicago to fight their gun bans based on this ruling. Some, if not all, will make it to the Supreme court but that will take time. 5-10 years of time. During the time it takes to make it to the Supreme Court of the United States the entire composition can be different. We can, and will, loose our fundamental right to self defense if we allow an Obama presidency.

I am not the biggest fan of McCain. There are things within his policies that I do not like. There are reasons I would prefer a different candidate. Yet, I know he will nominate judges that believe in the Constitution and in the founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence. I know that McCain will hold the course in the most important item of the next presidency... appointing the right, constructionist judges.

Appointments to the Supreme Court are for life. Whoever has the power to nominate judges will leave a legacy that will stretch for decades. Never before in my life have I been a one topic voter. This year I will be. As I consider the candidates I will use six words to guide me.

Supreme Court. Supreme Court. Supreme Court.

Sirius