> RoMunn wrote: > SCOTUS will rule on whether federal law trumps state law, but I think they > will say that Consitutional rights can't be abridged by state law.
Dude, you're not getting it: the Constitution grants rights to "the people", not individuals. In other words, it's the *federal government* that's constrained by the Constitution NOT the states. For example: * Barron v. Baltimore, 1833, SCOTUS held that the Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments of the Constitution) applied only to the federal government NOT the state government * United States v. Cruikshank, 1875, SCOTUS ruled that the first amendment "was not intended to limit the powers of the State governments in respect to their own citizens", and that the second amendment "has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the national government." The states are NOT constrained by the Constitution!! But obviously that doesn't feel right does it? So came the concept of "selective incorporation" to bind the states to the Bill of Rights: * Gitlow v. New York, 1925, SCOTUS ruled that the first amendment is, "among the fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the states" Which started "selective incorporation" of the Bill of Rights to state law. What hasn't yet been incorporated is the the second amendment - guns. If SCOTUS rules to incorporate - that ALL states are constrained by the 2nd amendment - they'll be ruling to constrain states, i.e. state's rights, with the 2nd. SUMMMARY If we only want justices to rule by the letter of the constitution, then state gun bans are just fine. If we want to alter the original intent of the constitution and legislate from the bench then they'll incorporate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298172 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
