John Paul Stevens: Heller gun control decision the worst in 35-year Supreme Court tenure
Washington Examiner,
by
Melissa Quinn
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
5/15/2019 12:58:18 PM
Retired Justice John Paul Stevens is lambasting the Supreme Court´s 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision broadening gun rights, calling it the “most clearly incorrect” ruling of his 35-year career on the high court. “Heller is unquestionably the most clearly incorrect decision that the court announced during my tenure on the bench,” Stevens, 99, wrote in his new memoir, The Making of a Justice. The retired justice penned the main dissent in the Heller case, which established the right to keep guns for self-defense in the home. Joining Stevens’ dissent were Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
thomthomp 5/15/2019 1:04:13 PM (No. 65342)
Was it worse than the Roberts Obamacare decision where the court just made up law?
Liberals - rarely right, but never in doubt.
40 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
trackman999 5/15/2019 1:07:53 PM (No. 65343)
He clearly does not understand the purpose of the 2nd amendment. It is for the people to be able to protect themselves from the govt. George Mason, co-writer of the 2nd amendment said at the Virginia convention to ratify the Consitution in 1789..." I ask Sir, what is a a militia? It is the whole people. To disarm them is the best and most effectual way to enslave them".
38 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Jethro bo 5/15/2019 1:17:25 PM (No. 65357)
Obviously at least 5 other qualified judges disagreed with Stevens.
33 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Luandir 5/15/2019 1:18:21 PM (No. 65360)
I have read the Heller decision. I am not a lawyer, and still found it easy to follow, with irrefutable logic from Justice Scalia. He concludes forcefully that "the people" means you and me, and that we have the right to keep and bear arms with minimal government interference.
I encourage L-Dotters to read it for yourselves - it is not very long.
As for Mr. Justice Stevens, I can only conclude that Liberal Sclerosis set in years before his retirement.
67 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Avanti1 5/15/2019 1:28:21 PM (No. 65349)
Stevens is a drama queen.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
clipped wings 5/15/2019 1:35:43 PM (No. 65361)
It would be good for our country if politicians (and these judges are politicians) were required, on pain of losing pensions, to keep their mouths shut, once out of office.
Stevens made his mistaken points with his dissent. That said, he should shut up.
zer0 made his points for eight long years. Now he should shut up.
The analysis posted by #2 is easy enough for even an antiquated judge to understand.
45 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
JackBurton 5/15/2019 1:53:34 PM (No. 65356)
Did a quick look for statistics on D.C. crime following Heller... latest data was as of 2012. They may have stopped compiling/publishing it because it showed a steady drop from pre-Heller.
Big drop in 2009.
30 people like this.
What he really means is they really wanted to not indicate that the 2nd amendment means what the Founders clearly stated it means, so they could further push the United States away from being a Constitutional Republic form of governance.
As it is, many states, cities and counties are doing all they can to infringe on this Right.
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
DVC 5/15/2019 2:21:01 PM (No. 65341)
Stephens is a leftist, he has zero allegiance to the Constituttion, as far as what the writers intended the words to mean.
From a leftist, totalitarian standpoint, yeah, keeping the people armed is a real problem, it could prevent the left from imposing their will on us.
From his totalitarian, leftist, warper view, he is right.
As a free American, as a person who believes in the Constitution as the founders intended it to be understood, it was a great decision....but didn´t go far enough, frankly.
16 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
LadyVet 5/15/2019 2:21:34 PM (No. 65340)
Glad that my senator did his part back in the day to inflict this wound on the liberals. "Liberals" should be read as aspiring totalitarians.
9 people like this.
Open and concealed carry in Georgia is refreshing! Especially the look on the faces of out-of-staters when you stroll into a gas station along the interstate, carrying a Colt 1911 on your hip.
10 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 5/15/2019 2:29:04 PM (No. 65344)
Stevens is one of the worst people ever on the Supreme Court. Drop Dead Stevens.
14 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 5/15/2019 2:43:50 PM (No. 65350)
I would argue the Kelo v. City of New London decision was the worst during his tenure, and he wrote the decision. He had retired by the time the court upheld Obamacare.
21 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 5/15/2019 3:02:47 PM (No. 65347)
Thank you Jerry Ford - - for nominating this traitorous idiot.
Good ol´ Jerry - - the only man capable of giving Jimmuh a serious run as the Dumbest President EVER!
6 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
bpl40 5/15/2019 3:23:07 PM (No. 65352)
"...misreading of the intended meaning of the Constitution". The man is completely senile or even at this age deviously diabolical. The hear and soul of the Heller decision was to CORRECT the deliberate misinterpretation of the Second Amendment. The Framers deliberately wrote the Constitution so that it can be correctly understood by a reasonable literate adult. No special knowledge or legal expertise is required. Just read it and you will realize how wrong and stupid this old fool is. As Einstein said "if you cannot explain it to a fourth grader you haven´t understood it.
7 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 5/15/2019 3:24:19 PM (No. 65346)
Takes the worst to know the worst, I´ve always heard.
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Omen55 5/15/2019 3:31:26 PM (No. 65353)
Who cares what this Loser has to say?
6 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Pepper Tree 5/15/2019 4:16:10 PM (No. 65351)
Really, JP? Why? Is it because of the number of gun deaths in America? Or is it because the government doesn’t have the nerve to turn us into Venezuela as long as we are armed?
If it’s because of shooting deaths, I’ll stack the number of dead blue-eyes babies killed in the womb against your gun shot statistic anytime.
5 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Mother of AL 5/15/2019 4:51:03 PM (No. 65354)
#2 is completely correct. The purpose of the 2nd Amendment was to enable the people to protect themselves against an out of control government. And we are seeing, before our very eyes exactly why the founding fathers gave it to us. That is the reason now for the urgency to get our guns. The dems are distressed this push came now before they could finish getting our guns.
I am very very concerned about the means the dems might use to “win” this election. This is their very last chance to get full control of our country. That is the reason they “hate” Trump so much! They have no other reason. So he a few bad words. So he calls people names. All of them have done the same thing and a Google search can find it. It is because he is standing in the way of their gaining control of this country. And making it their own personal Venezuela.
10 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
NYbob 5/15/2019 6:00:22 PM (No. 65359)
Freedom will rise a little higher when this tyrant is dead. What a joke as a ´supreme´ justice.
9 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
MickTurn 5/15/2019 6:50:05 PM (No. 65348)
SO Stevie boy, what part of ´SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" don´t you understand?
These Lib Slugs are so clueless they can´t even read!
3 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
lakerman1 5/15/2019 7:09:57 PM (No. 65355)
Stevens voted in favor of reinstating the death penalty, I recall. And decades later, he said it was his biggest mistake. He is now opposed to the death penalty, regardless of the crime committed.
He may have been a worse justice than Souter was.
62 people like this.
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Take it up with the Founding Fathers. You were there when the Constitution was written!!