{"id":3421,"date":"2024-06-10T06:37:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T06:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=3421"},"modified":"2024-06-10T06:37:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T06:37:05","slug":"anti-gun-politicians-are-working-overtime-to-destabilize-nations-judicial-system-starting-with-highest-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=3421","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Gun Politicians Are Working Overtime to Destabilize Nation&#8217;s Judicial System, Starting with Highest Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024.jpeg\" data-caption=\"Photo Courtesy of Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-696x464.jpeg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-696x464.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-700x467.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-1068x712.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-630x420.jpeg 630w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024-560x373.jpeg 560w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Supreme-Court-Justices-2024.jpeg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" alt=\"\" title=\"The Roberts Court, October 2022\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Courtesy of Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-next-post-navi\">\n<p>\nNext Post Coming Soon&#8230;\u25b6\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s a troubling trend by certain politicians to salt the ground at the U.S. Supreme Court before more significant firearm-related cases can be argued and decided. Politicians are disparaging the justices in an attempt to politicize the Court and delegitimize decisions even before arguments are heard. It\u2019s unfolding in the cruelest ways, and it threatens the separation of powers between the three co-equal branches of government \u2013 the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches.<\/p>\n<p>It is also a reminder that November\u2019s presidential election carries with it added significance for the future of the Judiciary.<\/p>\n<p>Just last week, Chief Justice John Roberts\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/supreme-court-alito-flag-roberts-senate-dc879158dd42050a9a52c850abfb90b9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rejected<\/a>\u00a0a request by U.S. Senate Democrats to meet to talk about Supreme Court ethics and a ginned-up controversy over Justice Samuel Alito\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/05\/29\/politics\/alito-flag-controversy-response-supreme-court\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flying flags<\/a>\u00a0outside his homes in Alexandria, Va., and Long Island Beach, N.J. The first incident stemmed from a 2021 dispute with a neighbor who personally targeted Justice Alito\u2019s wife, Martha-Ann, seemingly as a form of protesting the violence of Jan. 6. Mrs. Alito made the sole decision to fly an inverted flag at their Virginia residence in response to a neighbor\u2019s pointed attacks. More manufactured controversy stemmed from Mrs. Alito flying an \u201cAppeal to Heaven\u201d flag at their New Jersey residence in 2023, despite San Francisco\u2019s City Hall\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/san-francisco-officials-appeal-heaven-flag-front-city\/story?id=110671825\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flying\u00a0a similar flag<\/a>, only to quietly take it down last month after the media uproar.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Alito\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/Letter%20from%20Justice%20Alito%20to%20Senators%20Durbin%20and%20Whitehouse.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">responded<\/a>\u00a0to Senate Democrats\u2019 demands that he recuse from cases involving Jan. 6 based on these contrived controversies. He explained, in part, that a \u201creasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases\u201d would not conclude that he needed to recuse. But the harassment campaign against the Supreme Court will certainly continue. This latest attempt is a reminder that the Court will be a factor in the upcoming election and the future of Second Amendment rights for law-abiding citizens.<\/p>\n<p>Former President Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 with a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/05\/trumps-supreme-court-nominees-223331\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">promise<\/a>\u00a0to nominate justices \u201cfirst and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From that came Justice Neil Gorsuch, who President Trump described as \u201cvery much in the mold of\u201d the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s nomination followed, and was marked by a tumultuous confirmation hearing that included uncorroborated, decades-old allegations. Justice Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s nomination and confirmation followed in 2020, giving President Trump three additional originalist justices on the bench to serve alongside Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito.<\/p>\n<p>Since President Joe Biden took office, he nominated Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who was confirmed in 2022. With the 2024 election looming, President Biden is making promises to nominate his own brand of jurist to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<h4>Target SCOTUS<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cThe next president, they\u2019re going to be able to appoint a couple justices, and I\u2019ll be damned \u2014 if in fact we\u2019re able to change some of the justices when they retire and put in really progressive judges like we\u2019ve always had, tell me that won\u2019t change your life,\u201d President Biden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/biden-tells-black-voters-put-progressives-supreme-court-second-term\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a>\u00a0a Philadelphia crowd last month.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority. That hasn\u2019t sat well with liberal firebrands on Capitol Hill who have railed against the Court and, at times, threatened to upend the respect for the Supreme Court\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) infamously threatened Supreme Court justices while the Court was considering an abortion case in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to tell you, Gorsuch\u2026 I want to to tell you Kavanaugh\u2026, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,\u201d Sen. Schumer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2022\/06\/08\/2020_flashback_schumer_tells_kavanaugh_you_have_released_the_whirlwind_and_you_will_pay_the_price.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cYou won\u2019t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Sen. Schumer\u2019s remarks in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/03\/04\/politics\/schumer-roberts-threats-supreme-court\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rare statement<\/a>\u00a0that read, in part, \u201cJustices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not the only time, though, that political zealotry has overtaken the longstanding norms regarding elected representatives\u2019 respect for the independence of the judiciary. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D. R.I.) took direct aim at the Supreme Court, particularly on matters of gun rights and gun control, when he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/New%20York%20Rifle%20&amp;%20Pistol%20Association%20v.%20New%20York%20(Whitehouse%20amicus%20FINAL).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>\u00a0in an amicus brief arguing against\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/19pdf\/18-280_ba7d.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NYSRPA\u00a0v. City of New York<\/a>, \u201cPerhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be \u2018restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.\u2019 Particularly on the urgent issue of gun control, a nation desperately needs it to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Packing Threats<\/h4>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t an idle threat. President Joe Biden fiddled with the idea of packing the Supreme Court. He\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/04\/09\/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">signed an Executive Order<\/a>to create a Presidental Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. The clear purpose was to evaluate the ways in which he could re-shape the Supreme Court to benefit his progressive agenda, which includes undermining Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>Among the ideas that were studied \u2013 and eventually discarded \u2013 were: doing away with the lifetime appointments of the justices; changing the membership and size of the Court, as well as its case selection, rules and practices; and, most astonishingly, broadly reconsidering the Court\u2019s role in the Constitutional system.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats went as far as to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/supreme-court\/democrats-introduce-bill-expand-supreme-court-9-13-justices-n1264132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">introduce legislation<\/a>\u00a0in 2021 to the expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices. Given the Court\u2019s 6-3 conservative majority, the addition of four more justices nominated by President Biden was certainly aimed at tipping the Court toward a liberal, progressive agenda, potentially for a generation.<\/p>\n<p>It is no surprise that Democrats have their sights set on the Supreme Court while there are significant cases pending at the Court that relate to Second Amendment rights and the firearm industry. Those include\u00a0United States v. Rahimi, which will determine whether federal law prohibits firearm possession by those subject to domestic violence restraining orders. There\u2019s also\u00a0Garland v. Cargill, which involves a challenge to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) banning of bump stocks through the administrative rulemaking process. That decision potentially could have an impact beyond the regulation of bump stocks, as it could address more broadly the ATF\u2019s ability to craft criminal laws that are not voted upon by Congress.<\/p>\n<p>Relatedly, the Court\u2019s administrative law rulings could impact legal challenges to the ATF\u2019s overreaches. One recent example is the ATF\u2019s \u201cEngaged in the Business\u201d rule, which requires nearly all private firearm sellers to obtain a federal firearms license and run background checks. Another is the ATF\u2019s pistol brace rule that unilaterally reclassified AR-style pistols equipped with pistol braces as short-barreled rifles (SBRs) and subjected them to National Firearms Act (NFA) regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, there are pending cases challenging the constitutionality of some state laws banning Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and standard-capacity magazines.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\/articles\/nssf-petitions-scotus-to-overturn-illinois-ban-on-semiautomatic-firearms-standard-magazines\/#:~:text=It%20bans%20the%20sale%20and,capacity%20greater%20than%2015%20cartridges.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NSSF is challenging<\/a>\u00a0Illinois\u2019 MSR and magazine ban, and there are similar cases\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/litigation\/california-assault-weapons-ban-fight-may-wait-on-bullet-decision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pending review<\/a>\u00a0at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth and Ninth Circuits.<\/p>\n<p>All told, there is a lot at stake for not only the preservation of Second Amendment rights, but, more broadly, the Supreme Court\u2019s ability to carry out its duties without interference. The attacks by politicians on members of the Court are as deliberate as they are unnerving. It is an attempt to fuel the narrative that any decision some politicians disagree with can be discarded and ignored. Undermining the Supreme Court\u2019s legitimacy is more than a soundbite. It can do lasting damage to our constitutional system of the separation of powers, as it seeks to supplant the Court\u2019s reasoned decisions and the rule of law with demagoguing politicians as the judge and jury.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>\u2014 Shelby Baird Smith, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NSSF<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>About the Author<\/em><br \/><em>Shelby Baird Smith is NSSF\u2019s Chief Litigation Counsel. She previously clerked for Judge Thomas M. Hardiman on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and clerked for Justice Samuel A. Alito on the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-next-post-navi\">\n<p>\nNext Post Coming Soon&#8230;\u25b6\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/anti-gun-politicians-are-working-overtime-to-destabilize-nations-judicial-system-starting-with-highest-court\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo Courtesy of Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States Next Post Coming Soon&#8230;\u25b6 There\u2019s a troubling trend by certain politicians to salt the ground at the U.S. Supreme Court before more significant firearm-related cases can be argued and decided. Politicians are disparaging the justices in an attempt to politicize the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}