Round-Up: More on the D.C. Guns Case, 9th Circuit

By Adam Chandler
on Sep 6, 2007 at 3:51 pm

The District of Columbia’s appeal on Tuesday of the D.C. Circuit’s gun control decision remains very much in the news.
(Click here for more details on the petition and links to relevant documents.)

From the front page of yesterday’s Washington Post, Bob Barnes and David Nakamura’s analysis of the city’s petition is here. It notes that while most petitions attempt to persuade the Justices to take the case, the city’s petition “serves as more of a preview of its defense of the law.” Here is today’s Reuters report from James Vicini, noting the “far-reaching legal and political importance” of the case.

Yesterday’s Washington Post editorial on the Second Amendment can be found here, and this is a Washington Times editorial arguing that the D.C. mayor’s “main problem is his argument.”

The Chicago Tribune’s James Oliphant writes here about the impact the case could have on Chicago’s handgun ban. He points out that this case is “a rare instance when both sides in a dispute hope an appeal goes forward.” (Oliphant also has a report here on the relationship between Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign and the Federalist Society, highlighting in particular Ted Olson, the former Bush Solicitor General.)

Michael Dorf has these thoughts on D.C.’s petition. He gives his predictions on how the case will fare at the cert. and merits stages, concluding that the ultimate decision “will instantly become an issue in the Presidential election, regardless of how the case is decided.”

Not related to the guns appeal, David Postman, chief political reporter at the Seattle Times, adds his thoughts to the ongoing debate over the Ninth Circuit’s reversal rate at the Supreme Court. In the piece, law professor Vik Amar suggests that “part of the problem may be with the impression of the Ninth Cricuit among students in Ivy League law schools.”