Dahlia Lithwik writes that the case is (potentially) about "the abandonment of every principle of strict construction, federalism, and judicial modesty in which the Roberts Court ever purported to believe."

Except, of course, that there is no federalism issue in Heller, because the gun law at issue is D.C. law, which for constitutional purposes is considered part of the federal government.

Admittedly, if the Justices recognize an individual constitutional right to bear arms, this right will likely be "incorporated" against the states under the Fourteenth Amendment. There are many flaws in the incorporation doctrine as it currently exists, not least the undefended (and indefensible, in my opinion) assumption that the scope of rights protected under the original Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment are necessarily the same, even though the meaning of such rights in public discourse may have changed dramatically between 1791 and 1868, and even though the states have a police power, and the federal government does not.

But surely it would be problematic to refuse to enforce a federal right against a part of the federal government just because the incorporation doctrine suggests that the right will have to enforced in exactly the same way against the states. If that is indeed a problem, it's a problem with incorporation (essentially invented by the liberal Warren Court, though that is a very long and complicated subject), and not the current majority's fealty to federalism.