The Seventh Circuit decision (from Chicago), holding that the Second Amendment doesn't apply to the states, is covered in a nearly-800-word story today. The Ninth Circuit decision (from Northern California) this April, holding that the Second Amendment does apply to the states, wasn't covered at all by the Times at the time. [UPDATE: I realized that my earlier locution here, "wasn't covered at all," was ambiguous; I meant wasn't covered at the time, but in context it could be read as saying that the article about the Seventh Circuit case doesn't mention the Ninth Circuit decision -- it does, about halfway down.]
To be sure, there are possible explanations: Today's story was by the Times' Supreme Court reporter, and this case is more likely than the Ninth Circuit case to go to the Supreme Court, for reasons I described here. The underlying controversy in the Seventh Circuit (a handgun ban) is more likely to interest people than the underlying controversy in the Ninth Circuit (a ban on gun possession on county property). And it's made higher profile by the controversy about Judge Sotomayor's participation in the Second Circuit's no-incorporation decision.
At the same time, the broad legal issue — whether state and local governments are bound by the federal right to bear arms — is the same. The Ninth Circuit decision was the one that created the circuit split, and it did tee things up for the Court to consider the Second Circuit's incorporation case (again, discussed here) — perhaps not perfectly, but still in a way that strikes me as newsworthy. The Ninth Circuit decision is the one that suggests some gun laws may be unconstitutional, which seems to me a pretty newsworthy matter. And the Ninth Circuit case was more local than the Seventh Circuit case.
So it seems to me that both cases would have been newsworthy to the L.A. Times, the Ninth Circuit case at least as much as the Seventh Circuit case. But as I noted shortly after the Ninth Circuit decision, the Ninth Circuit case wasn't covered in the L.A. Times at the time.
Likewise, the Washington Post mentions the Seventh Circuit case (though in a heavily Sotomayor-focused article) and didn't mention the Ninth Circuit case when that came down.
Face it. Folks on the right threw a fit about Sotomoyor somehow being anti-gun or more illogically anti-bill of rights. To have Posner and Easterbrook essentially validating her opinion is now big news. That's why its a big story.
The LA Times only prints that which it agrees with.
I've been to rallies in the IL State capitol with thousands of gun owners that don't get a peep from Chicago media then see a week or two later a story about 50 illegal aliens rallying there.
Maybe some other states should look into the same thing when it comes to abortion, or taxes, or Miranda Rights.
The L.A. Times article makes both of these points plainly in the first two paragraphs.
He can be a little slow updating it, but at least you have access to the actual arguments and papers.
http://www.chicagoguncase.com/
In the meantime ... Daley will spare no taxpayer $$$ fighting for what he believes in. The fun part will be watching him spin an incorporation decision and finding ways to keep from actually changing the laws, a la Fenty and the guys in DC.
Or does it prove that Republicans can be anti-gun radicals too (see Mark Kirk).
That said, I don't think we have sufficient evidence to brand Sotomayor with that tag. I do think Posner earns branding as an anti-liberty radical.
It does appear the editorial board is leaning further to the left recently after voter repudiation of the ludicrous Propositions to "fix" the budget mess here. When the truth won't do, fabrications are offered. Very scary in a way.
Which precedent? Heller didn't address the incorporation issue (see here) and th 7th Circuit case was probably briefed before Heller was decided.
It was filed after Heller was decided.
The commenter you quoted was summarizing a lay person's view of the Seventh Circuit decision. He or she was not advancing the assertion that the decision contradicts Heller, only that it would appear that way to lay people who do not understand incorporation (and therefore assume that Heller automatically binds all governments, whether federal, state, or local).
I thought I read somewhere a long time ago that the average newspaper article was aimed at about the reading level of a sixth-grader. The L.A. Times fancies itself an above-average, trend-setting, national newspaper of record, but their new potential subscribers apparently don't think highly enough of such cosmopolitanism aspirations to actually pay for the thing.
The problem isn't with the LA Times or the City of Los Angeles. Every newspaper in every city, big or small, liberal or conservative, is losing circulation and advertisers. The internet and the changing reading/watching patterns of the public is responsible for that and its misleading to claim that the changing demographics of LA are to blame.
Seems to me the Bill of Rights pretty well trumps any conflicting law any where, state or federal, as IIRC every state derives its own constitution in reference to the US, but we are a republic...maybe that is the rub.
The human right of self-defense shall not be infringed, morally.
I think the point you are missing is that the Bill of Rights does not give rights to the people, but rather blocks the federal government from interfering with those rights of the people. Since the constitution created the federal government, not all the lesser governments, the Bill only applied to that federal government. The 14th amendment was created to extend some of the effects of the federal constitution to the lesser governmental entities, but we are still going through the process of establishing exactly which effects the 14th implies. That is what "incorporation" is all about. Without it, there is no legal basis for saying that the federal constitution has any effect on the states. So, without "incorporation" the Bill of Rights has nothing at all to say about any law anywhere except for that of the federal government.
As is their privilege, they do editorialize against it on their Editorial Page with some regularity.
He's based in Washington, and simply said that his job was to report on national (e.g., SCOTUS) legal issues for the Times. As such, he said he'd write about 2nd Amendment incorporation developments when there was something of a "national significance" to report.
He did point me to a few remaining reporters in Los Angeles that should have picked-up on the Nordyke decision. But they never responded to my emails...
The SF Chronicle did have a decent sized piece on the decision, though and did mention the incorporation issue.
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