Thursday, November 18, 2004
A small case for the supreme court.
What does "any court" mean, when it comes to depriving a convict of the right to keep and bear bazookas? Does it include courts in swaziland, or the courts you and the gang had in the tree fort? Or does it mean any state or federal court, as congress probably intended?
Oral argument was held november 3, while you were sleeping after bush was elected.*1
*1 see "fruit of the poisonous tree" if you didn't like Bush v Gore.
Scotusblog reports that transcripts are up.
Reading the transcript, I find a fun discussion of FOPA and decide to blog about it.
Easier said that done. It's a pdf, so i google on "adobe conversion page" and feed in the url and get an unpacked text i can cut and paste from. I hate pdf. This is one reason why.
5 In fact, in the preliminary findings of the
24
Alderson Reporting Company 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 24
24 Page 25 26
1 statute, the --the Congress said --and this
2 doesn' t have to decide and I' m not asking the Court
3 decide the Second Amendment issue, but Congress found
4 Second Amendment was a fundamental constitutional right.
5 And the name of the statute is the Firearms Owners'
6 Protection Act. Congress had in mind protecting
7 owners of firearms when necessary, and -
8 JUSTICE SCALIA: You call that FOPA? That' s
9 name of the statute?
10 ( Laughter. )
11 JUSTICE SCALIA: It' s an unfortunate acronym,
12 isn' t it?
13 ( Laughter. )
14 MR. BOAS: That' s right. The spelling is
15 little bit different, Justice Scalia.
16 But Congress --the --the name of the
17 tells you something about Congress' intent. The
18 licit and blameless activity of possessing a firearm isn'
19 the equivalent of selling drugs. Now, maybe if you have
20 prior drug offense and you' re a drug dealer, under 802
21 21, Congress said you get your sentence doubled
22 it' s a State, Federal, or foreign conviction, but
23 924( e) for a conviction under a court defined
24 922( g) ( 1) , the prior only ups your sentence if it' s
25 State or Federal conviction. We can' t ignore the
25
Alderson Reporting Company 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 25
25 Page 26 27
1 statutory scheme here, which time and time again refers
2 domestic matters.
I found this exchange interesting because you get the supreme court discussing the right to bear arms as a fundamental right, and you also get a scalia joke,
"FOPA."
Scalia bloggers of course have already read Heidi Bond's liveblogging in which she gets to crossexamine Scalia on equal protection.
I almost emailed scotusblog a link to Bond, but then didn't, and shortly thereafter she was volokh-alanched.
:a brief interlude in which a blogger goes to turn down the garbonzos in the pressure cooker:
4 JUSTICE STEVENS: --this colloquy to
25 another question, if I may? Would you concede that
39
Alderson Reporting Company 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 39
39 Page 40 41
1 are some tribunals in the world that are comparable to
2 what you might call a kangaroo court that Congress would
3 not have intended to include within the term court?
My favorite thurber cartoon is a courtroom scene where the lawyer asks the witness
"does this refresh your memory?" pointing to a kangaroo.
8 JUSTICE KENNEDY: Well, I mean, it doesn' t -
9 it' s --it' s not a tennis court or an inner court.
10 ( Laughter. )
What does "any court" mean, when it comes to depriving a convict of the right to keep and bear bazookas? Does it include courts in swaziland, or the courts you and the gang had in the tree fort? Or does it mean any state or federal court, as congress probably intended?
Oral argument was held november 3, while you were sleeping after bush was elected.*1
*1 see "fruit of the poisonous tree" if you didn't like Bush v Gore.
Scotusblog reports that transcripts are up.
Reading the transcript, I find a fun discussion of FOPA and decide to blog about it.
Easier said that done. It's a pdf, so i google on "adobe conversion page" and feed in the url and get an unpacked text i can cut and paste from. I hate pdf. This is one reason why.
5 In fact, in the preliminary findings of the
24
Alderson Reporting Company 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 24
24 Page 25 26
1 statute, the --the Congress said --and this
2 doesn' t have to decide and I' m not asking the Court
3 decide the Second Amendment issue, but Congress found
4 Second Amendment was a fundamental constitutional right.
5 And the name of the statute is the Firearms Owners'
6 Protection Act. Congress had in mind protecting
7 owners of firearms when necessary, and -
8 JUSTICE SCALIA: You call that FOPA? That' s
9 name of the statute?
10 ( Laughter. )
11 JUSTICE SCALIA: It' s an unfortunate acronym,
12 isn' t it?
13 ( Laughter. )
14 MR. BOAS: That' s right. The spelling is
15 little bit different, Justice Scalia.
16 But Congress --the --the name of the
17 tells you something about Congress' intent. The
18 licit and blameless activity of possessing a firearm isn'
19 the equivalent of selling drugs. Now, maybe if you have
20 prior drug offense and you' re a drug dealer, under 802
21 21, Congress said you get your sentence doubled
22 it' s a State, Federal, or foreign conviction, but
23 924( e) for a conviction under a court defined
24 922( g) ( 1) , the prior only ups your sentence if it' s
25 State or Federal conviction. We can' t ignore the
25
Alderson Reporting Company 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 25
25 Page 26 27
1 statutory scheme here, which time and time again refers
2 domestic matters.
I found this exchange interesting because you get the supreme court discussing the right to bear arms as a fundamental right, and you also get a scalia joke,
"FOPA."
Scalia bloggers of course have already read Heidi Bond's liveblogging in which she gets to crossexamine Scalia on equal protection.
I almost emailed scotusblog a link to Bond, but then didn't, and shortly thereafter she was volokh-alanched.
:a brief interlude in which a blogger goes to turn down the garbonzos in the pressure cooker:
4 JUSTICE STEVENS: --this colloquy to
25 another question, if I may? Would you concede that
39
Alderson Reporting Company 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 39
39 Page 40 41
1 are some tribunals in the world that are comparable to
2 what you might call a kangaroo court that Congress would
3 not have intended to include within the term court?
My favorite thurber cartoon is a courtroom scene where the lawyer asks the witness
"does this refresh your memory?" pointing to a kangaroo.
8 JUSTICE KENNEDY: Well, I mean, it doesn' t -
9 it' s --it' s not a tennis court or an inner court.
10 ( Laughter. )
Comments:
Post a Comment
