The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld strict gun-control ordinances in Chicago and suburban Oak Park. Ill., setting the stage for a Supreme Court battle over whether the 2nd Amendment and its protection for gun owners extends to state and municipal laws.
In a 3-0 decision, the judges said they were bound by legal precedents that held the 2nd Amendment applied only to federal laws. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, in January joined a three-judge panel in New York that came to the same conclusion. Last week, activists cited that decision in calling her an "anti-gun radical."
Tuesday's decision in the Chicago case was written by Judge Frank H. Easterbrook and joined by Judges Richard A. Posner and William J. Bauer. All three were Republican appointees.
One of the lawyers for the Chicago gun owners said he planned to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. ...
More here. Perhaps not an unexpected result, based on the tone of oral arguments, the panel's composition (all anti-gun), and the Supreme Court's existing Presser precedent.
We need the Supremes to rule on the incorporation issue anyway, and the circuit split with the Ninth Circuit's Nordyke ruling (which held that the Second Amendment applies to the states) increases the likelihood of a Supreme Court hearing on the issue.
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