While I’ve been busy with work related items, it’s gotten around that NRA is filing to get some time during the oral arguments of McDonald, effectively splitting Alan Gura’s time before the Court. I’m not meaning to take sides in this, because while I understand NRA’s concern, I’m also willing to give Gura the benefit of doubt in how to argue his case. What I would like to do is explain the issues here as best I can, and try to convey what each side is trying to achieve, and why this might cause some conflict. The Supreme Court’s grant of Certiorari (cert for short) in the McDonald case goes like this:
Whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated as against the States by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities or Due Process Clauses.
That’s a strong indication that the Supreme Court would like to see arguments for both Due Process Clause incorporation and P or I incorporation briefed in this case, and that ground is indeed covered in the Petitioners brief, NRA’s brief and other amicus briefs. By this point, it’s pretty clear that Alan Gura has set out on a path to get the Second Amendment incorporated (properly, in my opinion) under the Privileges or Immunities Clause, and NRA favors the more conservative and less risky incorporation under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
One can probably get to a motivation for favoring each method by thinking carefully about each party. It would seem Alan Gura came to the gun issue through a generally libertarian legal philosophy, much the same way many of us did. Having already won a landmark case before the Court on one libertarian issue, his place in legal history is assured. But winning a case that overturns Slaughterhouse would make him a legend in legal history. Hell, even just overturning Cruikshank, and bringing that part of the 14th Amendment back to life would be a hell of an accomplishment. Having come to the issue myself through a strongly libertarian bent I loved the Petitioner’s Brief in McDonald. The opportunity to bring the Privileges or Immunities clause back to life is right now, if it’ll ever happen. For someone who loves our Constitution and liberty, this can’t be passed up. I can’t blame Gura for taking the chance. I probably would too in his position, and if he prevails, our Republic will be better for it.
NRA, institutionally, is a lot more conservative, because their only concern is the preservation of Second Amendment rights. Ancillary libertarian concerns aren’t on their mind institutionally. While there might be (well, are, I can tell you) individuals in NRA who are sympathetic to the idea of restoring P or I and overturning Slaughterhouse, NRA as an institution is only concerned with getting a clean and firm ruling on incorporation, and is definitely wary of sacrificing incorporation on the altar of Privileges or Immunities restoration. They are probably concerned that the justices have a chance to hear more about incorporating the Second Amendment under the due process clause like we do with other constitutional rights.
So what’s the real risk? Who the hell cares how it’s incorporated, as long as it’s incorporated, right? I suspect what NRA is looking to avoid is a judicial train wreck of a ruling, where you get something like three justices voting on incorporation through Privileges or Immunities, three justices voting on incorporation through Due Process, and three voting on no incorporation because they think Heller was wrong, and the Second Amendment isn’t any real fundamental right that need be incorporated against the states. In a hypothetical ruling like that, you have no clear majority opinion, so the Marks rule is used:
The Marks Rule has raised the following schools of thought regarding the appropriate basis for determining the holding in such fractured cases: (a) the narrowest analysis essential to the result derived from a combination of all concurring opinions; (b) the concurring opinion offering the narrowest rationale; or (c) only those parts of the concurring opinions which overlap and arrive at the same result. For example, if one follows the first interpretation, then the holding in the case should be viewed as the narrowest rationale supported by all of the concurring opinions read together as though it were a single majority opinion, and where there is a conflict, the opinion based on the narrowest ground governs.
You can see how it might complicate things in moving forward on Second Amendment rights in the future, if we were to get McDonald in a plurality opinion. This would seem especially true since Marks may not quite cleanly apply. Is P or I more “narrow” than Due Process? NRA would presumably like to avoid the potential for this, and just have a clean ruling following the same legal reasoning as other Constitutional rights. They are going to, therefore, be concerned the justices aren’t able to hear enough oral argument along those lines.
Not that I believe Alan Gura is being reckless or daredevil in the way he’s decided to argue his case. The Supreme Court asked for this, really. What reason they have is not really something we can know, but they did. I can’t believe they would have granted cert the way they did if they weren’t interested exploring both options. I also still strongly believe that we will have incorporation at the end of the day. I sincerely hope we can have incorporation by Alan Gura succeeding in overturning Slaughterhouse and/or Cruikshank, but I’ll take it any way I can get it. Still, I think NRA has a valid concern in wanting time. Presumably if they are granted time, it’ll be Stephen Halbrook before the Court. I think either way this goes, our rights are in very good hands. We are fortunate to have competent and highly talented people working this issue on our behalf before the Court.
