Constitutional scholar Gary L. McDowell explained why, in his view, the nine justices (or at least five of the nine) formed the wrong opinion in the latest gun case before the high court.
For the Sunday, July 11, Richmond Times-Dispatch, McDowell wrote: “Following the Supreme Court’s last big decision of this term — the gun rights case of McDonald v. Chicago — the frenzy of concern over the right of individuals to keep and bear arms for personal protection threatens to overshadow the true constitutional tragedy of the case. That tragedy is the ready acceptance in the majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito of the judicially created doctrine of “selective incorporation” — the idea that it is the task of the justices to pick and choose among the provisions of the Bill of Rights for those they think should apply to the states and localities.” More
