The biggest impact of John Thune’s 2004 victory over Tom Daschle is in regard to the makeup of the Supreme Court. Looks like next year that impact could be in saving the Second Amendment:
The United States Supreme Court today announced its decision to take up District of Columbia v. Heller-a case in which plaintiffs challenge the unconstitutional gun ban in the nation’s capital. The District of Columbia appealed a lower court’s ruling earlier this year affirming that the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and that the District’s bans on handguns, carrying firearms within the home, and possession of loaded or operable firearms for self-defense violate that right.
The NRA will participate in this case through briefs as a friend of the court. Oral arguments are likely to take place in early 2008.
In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that "[T]he phrase ‘the right of the people,’ when read intratextually and in light of Supreme Court precedent, leads us to conclude that the right in question is individual." The D.C. Circuit also rejected the claim that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because D.C. is not a state.
The decision marks the first time a Second Amendment challenge to a firearm law has reached the Supreme Court since 1939.
