SCOTUS declines to hear ‘Jackson’ case, Scalia and Thomas dissent
Jonathan Adler for The Washington Post reports:
The Supreme Court denied certiorari in another Second Amendment case on Monday. Since deciding D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, the Court has shown little interest in clarifying the scope of constitutionally protected gun rights. In Jackson v. City and County of San Francisco, however, two justices believe the Court should have granted review. Justice Clarence Thomas filed a dissent from the denial of certiorari, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia.
At issue in Jackson was a local ordinance that restricted gun possession in the home. Specifically, the law prohibits the keeping of a handgun in the home unless it is a) disabled (as with a trigger lock) or b) carried on the person of an adult. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge to this law, prompting several gun owners to seek Supreme Court review. Although the law here would seem to raise serious questions under Heller and McDonald, there were not four justices willing to vote for certiorari.
….If there is to be meaningful review of Second Amendment claims in lower courts, they need a signal from the Supreme Court that Heller and McDonald were for real, and were not merely symbolic nods to the Second Amendment. Until then, the Second Amendment (like parts of the Fifth) will remain one of the poor relations within the Bill of Rights.
Read the full story at The Washington Post.
Also, read FPC’s Blog on the recent decision by the SCOTUS.
