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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   27240 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 11, 2023

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I'll say for the Supreme Court: if Neil Gorsuch can be austisticly literal when it comes to the CRA, but doesn't apply that same literalism to the 2A, it's a strong sign of what he wants to get done.

I'm still waiting on the Supreme Court to strike down the blatantly unconstitutional magazine bans and "assault weapon" bans that have been popular in the last few years.

He was not being "autistically literal." He was applying the usual rule of statutory construction:

This Court normally interprets a statute in accord with the ordinary public meaning of its terms at the time of its enactment. . . . Most notably, the statute prohibits employers from taking certain actions “because of ” sex. And, as this Court has previously explained, “the ordinary meaning of ‘because of ’ is ‘by reason of’ or ‘on account of.’” . . . What did “discriminate” mean in 1964? As it turns out, it meant then roughly what it means today: “To make a difference in treatment or favor (of one as compared with others).” Webster’s New International Dictionary 745 (2d ed. 1954). To “discriminate against” a person, then, would seem to mean treating that individual worse than others who are similarly situated. "

Re Constitutional adjudication, the rule is somewhat different: the question is what entire clauses mean, not individual terms.* (Which is why the "no law" in the First Amendment does not literally mean "no.")

*Re the Second Amendment, "[t]he Courts of Appeals [must] ascertain the original scope of the right based on its historical meaning."

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