Ryan Horsley asks his to weigh in on Heller with support for individual rights.
I'm delighted to see this avenue being pursued. A few days back, I sent the following link of state Attorneys General supporting the Ashcroft position to Robert Levy, hoping he would find value in it, and he noted that "6 of the 18 [were] Democrats...very impressive..."
I wasn't so fortunate in the response I received from then-CA AG Bill Lockyer, which was really no surprise, but did get a commitment from Republican AG candidate Dick Ackerman's campaign that he would go on record supporting an individual rights view.
I agree with Ryan--find out where your state AG stands on the Second Amendment--and ask him if he will add his voice to those supporting Heller.
Just sent of a letter to Pa AG Tom Corbett on his Stance on the Topic,as well as the link from former AG Ashcroft.
ReplyDeleteDavid:
ReplyDeleteHow can we encourage state Attorneys Generals to sign on to the Pro-Heller (pro-gun rights) amicus curiae being drafted?
A quick analysis of the state's standings regarding amici:
At the DC Circuit level:
Pro-DC (anti-gun rights) - MA, MD, NJ, cities of Boston, Chicago, New York
Pro-Parker (pro-gun rights) - TX, AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, MI, MN, NE, ND, OH, UT, WY
Supreme Court (petition stage):
Pro-DC (anti-gun rights) - NY, HI, IL, MD
States AGs that signed the 8 July 2002 letter to Ashcroft:
AL, DE, GA, ND, ID, OK, KY, PA, MT, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WV, WY
By my recoking...
7 states (AL, NE, GA, ND, TX, UT, WY) signed the Ashcroft letter AND signed the pro-Parker amicus at the District court stage. TX is leading the current pro-Heller amicus to the SCOTUS court.
6 states (AR, CO, FL, MI, MN, OH) signed the pro-Parker amicus but did NOT sign the letter to Ashcroft.
That leaves 11 states (DE, ID, OK, KY, PA, MT, SC, SD, TN, VA, WV) that did NOT sign the amicus for Parker but DID sign the letter to Ashcroft.
Five long years have passed...but we need to encourage those states to make their positions clear, and encourage them to sign on with the pro-Heller amicus curiae.
Where to AK and VT stand on this? One would think they'd stand for the individual rights position.
I didn't even have to ask mine; Illinois has Lisa Madigan, the daughter of Michael Madigan, the Chicago Democrat power broker who runs the Illinois Senate.
ReplyDeleteI'd have been shocked to find that she had even stayed out of it, much less failed to file a brief supporting D.C.
Don Gwinn: Oh, she wrote one alright, or at least signed one. Sure wasn't in favor of Heller!!!
ReplyDeleteAB