By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
With congressional action on gun control largely stuck in a holding pattern on Capitol Hill, the real battlefields on the issue may become local, state and federal courtrooms.
A federal court on Friday delivered a major victory to gun rights supporters, denying a petition to rehear a December ruling that declared an Illinois law prohibiting people from carrying concealed handguns in public unconstitutional.
Anti-gun jurisdictions are in trouble. Tuesday's 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down the Illinois ban on concealed carry has put in the crosshairs the reluctance of the District and Maryland to allow citizens to exercise their right to self-defense outside the home.
New life is being breathed into the Second Amendment. After it was beaten down by activist courts over the decades, the nation's top justices finally decided two years ago that the founders meant what they wrote. In McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court majority held it was unconstitutional for the Windy City to forbid residents to keep handguns in their homes. On Tuesday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided the phrase in the Bill of Rights about "bearing arms" has meaning as well.
Late Friday, Judge Richard A. Posner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set himself up as both judge and jury and found Conrad Black, once the head of one of the most illustrious publishing chains in the world, guilty of fraud and obstruction of justice in running his newspapers. That is somewhat of a comedown for our criminal justice system. Years ago, the Department of Justice arrayed about 13 charges against Black, including tax evasion, racketeering, various types of fraud and that lonely obstruction-of-justice charge. Black beat the department back on nine of 13 charges, leaving just three fraud charges and the obstruction charge against him. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. Then sanity intruded.
"There is no suggestion that some unique characteristic of criminal activity in Illinois justifies the state's taking a different approach from the other 49 states," Judge Richard A. Posner wrote in the opinion upheld Friday. "If the Illinois approach were demonstrably superior, one would expect at least one or two other states to have emulated it."
"There is no suggestion that some unique characteristic of criminal activity in Illinois justifies the state's taking a different approach from the other 49 states," Judge Richard A. Posner wrote in the opinion. "If the Illinois approach were demonstrably superior, one would expect at least one or two other states to have emulated it."
