Podcast 2/20/2016: Originalism is Pure Applesauce/Scalia is Dead

www.businessinsider.com

In this episode, Vinny and I discuss the passing of Antonin Scalia, bizarre Supreme Court scenarios, the bogus idea of "originalism", and Scalia's conservative radicalism.

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3vrwg-5ce1c2/download

Notes:

• Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health et a.l (gay marriage and 14th Amendment)
• Bush v. Gore (14th Amendment and a presidential election)
• Shelby County v. Holder (Voting Rights Act and 15th Amendment)
• Lawrence v. Texas (sodomy laws)
• District of Columbia et al. v. Heller (2nd Amendment and gun control)
• Heien v. North Carolina (4th Amendment and ignorance of the law by law enforcement)
• Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of Burlington (4th Amendment and butt-hole searches)
• Could a Puerto Rican be president?  The answer is unclear.  Justice Breyer, for his part, doesn't see why not.
• What was the longest confirmed kill of the Revolutionary War?  After some internet research, several sources of unknown credibility say Timothy Murphy shot British General Simon Fraser at a distance of 300-400 yards.  Pretty impressive for open iron sights and primitive rifles. Here's the Wikipedia article.

NSFW

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A Very Strange Reading of the Second Amendment

The National Rifle Association and the gun lobby have perverted the public understanding of the Second Amendment.  If you were to listen to the NRA, you would think that the Constitution guarantees the right of anyone to own pretty much any gun they want, carry it anyway they want, and store it anywhere they want without the interference of government regulation.  The Second Amendment reads:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Leaving aside for a second that there is considerable evidence that the framers of the Constitution were talking exclusively about state Militias, a view held by the Supreme Court until 2008 when they ruled in District of Columbia et al. v. Heller; the NRA's interpretation of gun rights exceeds anything written in the text.