Supreme Court Hears Second Amendment Case As Cheney Opposes His Own Administration on the Question

[kpete]

Supreme Court Hears Second Amendment Case As Cheney Opposes His Own Administration on the Question
Published 1, March 18, 2008 Congress

The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290. The lower court decision in Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007) contained strong majority and dissenting opinions on the question of whether there is an individual right to gun ownership. The odds favor gun owners for the first time in securing a decision that clearly establishes an individual right. Their case is helped along by a bizarre appearance of Vice President Dick Cheney opposing positions of his own administration before the Court.

...........

Cheney’s filing of a brief opposing the views of his own Administration adds an odd element to the case. Cheney has long insisted that he merely believes in a strong presidency and a unitary executive. Yet, when the President has the audacity to take a different view than his own, Cheney does not appear to hesitate to contradict him before the Court. As discussed here, many gun advocates viewed the Bush Administration has undermining their case before the Court by supporting some gun control restrictions. Cheney decided to file his own brief to oppose such views. He signed on to a brief by many members of Congress calling for a clear victory and no remand of the case, as suggested by the Administration’s brief.

It was one of 67 amicus briefs in the case, but the one that has received the most attention. It is true that Cheney is technically a member of the Senate, but the open disagreement with the Administration in a pending case left many gasping in amazement. It was, in my view, remarkable poor judgment. A vice president does not do much in office, but at a minimum, he should not interfere with the policy judgments of the Administration. It is particularly curious after years of Cheney insisting that he wants the Administration to speak with one voice and have a powerful chief executive in all policy questions.

Cheney is an avid hunter and gun owner. His private passions appear to have overwhelmed his policy judgment on this one.

more at:
http://jonathanturley.org/2008/03/18/supreme-court-hears-second-amendment-case-as-cheney-opposes-his-own-administration-on-the-question/#more-1280

[annabanana]

1. Cheney is first and foremost "for" himself.

Over the administration, over the American people, over the world. . . . and his daughter's on notice.

[DrDan]

2. cheney's "private passions" scare the poop out of me . . .

are there bounds to these . . .

[ThomWV]

3. Do you realized that in that entire article it never actually tells you what Cheney's position is?

Unacceptable and in my mind marks it as just another hit piece.

He's "against it" but it never tells you what his argument is - pure horseshit and really not the sort of thing you'd expect.

[DCKit]

4. It also states "A vice president does not do much in office..."

Which leads me to believe the author hasn't read a newspaper since Mr. Potatoe Head held the office - Poppy's VP, Dan Quyale, for those of you too young (or too old) to remember. Then again, I needed a memory jog too. If anything, he was eminently forgettable.

None of us really wants to know Dick's position: Half of us would be horrified to be in agreement with him on ANY subject, while the other half would gloat, become insufferable and GD would be in turmoil until the subject got it's own dungeon.

[Ghost in the Machine]

5. Does this help any?

I found this at:
http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2008/02/09/more-amicus-briefs-in-dc-v-heller/

Vice President Cheney signed on to a brief filed by a majority of Congress yesterday that urged the Supreme Court to uphold a ruling that the District of Columbia’s handgun ban is unconstitutional, breaking with his own administration’s official position.

Cheney joined 55 senators and 250 House members in asking the court to find that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess firearms and to uphold a lower court’s ruling that the D.C. ban violates that right. That position is at odds with the one put forward by the administration, which angered gun rights advocates when it suggested that the justices return the case to lower courts for further review.

In order to make his dramatic break with the administration, Cheney invoked his rarely used status as part of Congress, joining the brief as “President of the United States Senate, Richard B. Cheney.” It is a position he has used at times to make the point that he is sometimes part of the legislative branch and sometimes part of the executive.

A copy of the brief can be found here: http://www.gurapossessky.com/news/parker/documents/07-290bsacMembersUSSenate.pdf

In addition to what will no doubt come to be called the Cheney brief, the Congress of Racial Equality has filed a pro-Respondent brief that asks the court to look at the racist history of gun control laws, a pertinent argument given the racial makeup of the District of Columbia. That brief can be found here: http://www.gurapossessky.com/news/parker/documents/07290bsacCongressofRacialEquality.pdf

[benEzra]

6. Well, Alberto "No Habeus Corpus" Gonzales is not a friend of gun ownership by us peons...

and the Administration has certainly been pushing hard to revoke the gun-ownership rights of those it secretly blacklists. I don't know if Cheney is really breaking away from that, but I hope to God somebody does...

[Unrepentant Fenian]

7. I'll be glad when Cheney is no longer the President!