Candidates Duel Over Gun Ruling

Expect a fierce battle for liberal justice's replacement

(NEWSER) - What will John Paul Stevens’ retirement mean for the Supreme Court? Here are three early thoughts on what comes next:

• Expect the tea partiers to get extremely riled up over whoever President Obama nominates, writes Chris Good of the Atlantic . They have a “very strict (one could almost say fundamentalist)” take on the Constitution, and they’re itching for a post-health care fight.

(NEWSER) - George W. Bush’s historical reputation seems to be sinking by the day, but John Roberts, his slick, smiling appointee as the Supreme Court’s chief justice, remains as an “enduring and faithful reflection of the Bush presidency,” writes Jeffrey Toobin in the New Yorker. Though Roberts promised a charmed Congress he’d practice with “modesty and humility,” he’s been a doctrinaire conservative more combative even than Antonin Scalia. More»

Obama's anti-gun stance and fears of economic chaos fuel record gun sales

(NEWSER) - Fears of an anti-gun presidency and the threat of civil unrest in a worsening economic climate are fueling record sales of firearms and ammunition, the Washington Post reports. Sales have been climbing since 2006 and this year have shot past the average annual 5% increase to reach 10%, as gun advocates predict that some weapons may become illegal or heavily taxed under either presidential candidate. More»

2nd Amendment call was a question for states: legal scholars

(NEWSER) - Last summer's Supreme Court decision that ruled citizens have an individual right to possess guns drew hosannas from the American right wing. But now the court's ruling is coming under attack—from conservative legal scholars. As the New York Times reports, two Reagan-appointed judges have called DC v. Heller the conservative version of Roe v. Wade, unjustly transferring a political question from the states into the courts. More»

Candidates likely to follow different philosophies in replacing aging liberal judges

(NEWSER) - The next president will be able to either preserve the Supreme Court’s current ideological balance, or set it on a new conservative path, the Wall Street Journal reports. The youngest of the court’s liberals is 69, while the oldest of the conservatives is only 72. Hence, John McCain could deliver the most conservative court in decades, while Barack Obama would be likely to maintain the status quo. More»