SCOTUS FTW!

Unless they reside underneath a rock, every good libertarian or conservative is acquainted with the groundbreaking news coming from the Supreme Court today. In a 5-4 ruling overturning the gun ban in Chicago, the Justices in McDonald v. City of Chicago extended gun rights to every city and state. This will likely make it much easier to own a handgun in the US. I am not the best person to elucidate the factors weighing in on the decision, but I can’t resist mentioning the irony in Justice Clarence Thomas citing Lysander Spooner in his decision.

Justice Stevens, who wrote a lengthy dissent in the McDonald case, is retiring after today. Appropriately, today also marks the date that the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin Elana Kagan’s testimony. Kagan seems to have fallen into some rough timing – as the New York Times reports:

“The Supreme Court on Monday morning ruled against Ms. Kagan in a case she had argued as solicitor general when it decided that a quasi government agency that audits public companies is unconstitutional. The board’s members are appointed and removed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and not the president – a violation of Article II of the Constitution, which vests executive power in the president, the court ruled.”

This brings Kagan’s “scorecard” with SCOTUS to a 3-2. (The other case she lost being the recent Citizens United decision.) Though Obama’s appointed Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, famously had a much more dismal overturn rate, this Kagan news paired with the political climate in Washington should prove very unfavorable to the (relatively) more apt legal mind.

What a difference one year makes!