Time For A REAL Consttutionalist

As Harriet Miers Withdraws Her Nomination For The Supreme Court…
Gun owners must ask President Bush for a SOLID constitutionalist!

You’ve no doubt heard the news: Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. From the little we have been able to glean about her views and record, this is probably a good thing for us.

So now we’re back to square one — the President will need to find a replacement for the retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Once again, we need to raise our voices and remind President Bush that we do not want someone who is simply a friend of his but is, rather, a friend of the Constitution.

In months past, news reports have indicated that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is currently on the President’s “short list.” That’s not encouraging. Readers can go to http://www.gunowners.org/a071105.htm on the GOA webpage to see our analysis of Gonzales’ anti-gun record.

As we have previously reported, there are several sitting justices who would make excellent choices for the new vacancy. For example, Justice Janice Rogers Brown is one of the most recently confirmed judges to the federal courts. Brown was confirmed by the Senate in June by a 56-43 vote.

As a Justice on the California Supreme Court, Brown referred to Roosevelt’s New Deal as our “own socialist revolution.” In regard to taxpayer supported welfare, she said that, “Theft is theft even when the government approves of the thievery.”

On gun rights, Brown sounds like a modern-day Annie Oakley. She used language from an amicus curiae brief that was submitted by Gun Owners of California to argue against Los Angeles’ ban on gun shows.

And her most extensive Second Amendment scholarship appeared in the case involving the California ban on semi-automatic firearms (Kassler v. Lockyer). In a decision upholding the California ban on certain semi-autos (the so-called “assault weapons”), she faulted the U.S. Supreme Court for picking and choosing which rights it liked.

She most definitely came down on the right side, stating that the individual right to keep and bear arms is a “right expressly guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.”

There are other conservative judges who are currently on the federal bench who also have a high regard for the U.S. Constitution. Judge Samuel Alito, Jr., in the Third Circuit, has argued that Congress has no right to regulate the private possession of machine guns. There is Edith Jones in the Fifth Circuit who understands that our “unalienable rights were given by God to all our fellow citizens.”

And in the Ninth Circuit, Judge Alex Kozinski has chided his liberal colleagues for falling prey to the popular delusion that we are “better off leaving all weapons in the hands of professionals on the government payroll.” He cites chapter and verse, showing how gun control has been used to subjugate blacks in the South, as well as other minorities all across the world.

“All too many of the other great tragedies of history — Stalin’s atrocities, the killing fields of Cambodia, the Holocaust, to name but a few — were perpetrated by armed troops against unarmed populations,” Kozinski said. “Many could well have been avoided or mitigated, had the perpetrators known their intended victims were equipped with a rifle and twenty bullets apiece, as the Militia Act required here.”

[To see Kozinski’s entire dissenting opinion against the California semi-auto ban, go to http://www.gunowners.org/op0326.htm on the GOA website.]

Finally, there’s also Justice Sam Cummings in the Fifth District. He wrote the superb opinion in the Emerson case, which declared that Dr. Timothy Emerson’s Second Amendment rights were violated by a 1994 law which prohibits persons under restraining orders from possessing firearms. There is no appeal in such proceedings, and they often amount to little more than a rubberstamp by a local magistrate.

The point should be clear. There are good judges who can fill the void on the Court. Despite his friendship with Alberto Gonzales, the President should be reminded that millions of people did not flock to the polls to defeat Al Gore and John Kerry just so he could appoint liberal anti-gunners to the high court.

ACTION: Please contact President Bush and urge him to nominate a constitutionalist to the Supreme Court. And remind him that American gun owners do NOT want Alberto Gonzales, or anyone like him, to sit on the Court.

You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send the President the pre-written message below. You can also contact the President using any of the following mediums:

Comment line: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: [email protected]

— Pre-written letter —

Dear President Bush:

With the withdrawal of Harriet Miers’ nomination, you are once again faced with a tremendous opportunity to appoint a SOLID constitutional scholar who truly understands the rule of law and respects the Bill of Rights.

I want to urge you, in the strongest of terms, to realize Alberto Gonzales is NOT that man! As one who respects the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (especially the Second Amendment), I hope that you will not appoint someone who holds views similar to those of Gonzales.

You made an excellent choice in putting Justice Janice Rogers Brown on the federal bench. She understands the Second Amendment protects an individual right, and she realizes that the Supreme Court is supposed to interpret, not make, the laws.

I hope that you will nominate either her or someone like her to the Supreme Court — such as Judges Samuel Alito, Jr. (in the Third District), Alex Kozinski (in the Ninth District), or Sam Cummings (in the Fifth District). Thank you.

Sincerely,

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