Posted on 05/13/2008 10:48:23 AM PDT by neverdem
Law: Attorneys suing a gun dealer on behalf of the city of New York want any references to the Second Amendment barred from the trial. Has our judicial system fallen down a rabbit hole and landed in Wonderland?
It is a statement that, outside of fiction, we thought we'd never see: "Any references by counsel to the Second Amendment or analogous state constitutional provisions are likewise irrelevant."
The line is from a legal brief filed by attorneys for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ahead of a May 27 federal trial in which they will try to prove that Adventure Outdoors, a Georgia gun shop, one of 27 out-of-state gun shops the city is suing, is responsible for arming a disproportionate number of the city's criminals.
We understand that the legal profession is duly bound to zealously represent its clients' interests. But in asking the court to silence the Constitution, they leave the realm of reasonable representation and enter into a dangerous land where the law means only what the authorities want it to mean.
If lawyers can't refer to the Constitution — our founding document, the framework for all our laws and our guarantee that the government can't trample our rights — during a trial, then what's left? Without the Constitution, a trial is rigged, a defendant is left defenseless. Law becomes judicial and legislative whim, a farce, a tyrant's command, not a timeless and unwavering standard.
Alarming as this incident is, it's only made worse when considered in the context of previous crackpot legal theories, among them the idea that Supreme Court justices should use foreign courts and foreign opinions to inform their rulings. Coming to mind immediately is the Supreme Court's 2005 Roper v. Simmons decision. In that instance, five justices considered the "overwhelming weight of international opinion"...
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
It is not supposed to be necessary for an attorney include a statement asking that the Judge take Judicial Notice of existing laws, or the Constitution.
The old saying regarding cases is:
If the law is on your side, you pound the law.
If procedures are on your side, you pound the procedures.
If neither are on your side, you pound the table.
It appears that Bloomy intends to pound the table.
Tupper Saussy traced the lineage of the word “attorney” back to the Sanscrit “torwa” meaning “to TWIST.”
That should tell us all we need to know about THAT “profession” and why it’s first cousin to the oldest in the world.
I don’t know any pig farmers, but i’m pretty handy with my army surplus e-tool.
As my brothers t-shirt says, “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms” should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
If a legal principle is widely accepted, it need not reach SCOTUS to apply.
...conversely...
Just because SCOTUS has _not_ ruled on something doesn’t mean it ain’t so.
Too bad Miller has been so commonly misread, since according to Miller, trial court is the correct place to decide whether a particular weapon is of reasonable military utility.
Well, then somebody needs to arm the city's criminals proportionately. These poor guys are trying to ply their trade (crime) and have a limited source for guns. Other states need to step up to the plate.
Bet the cost of treating aids patients ranks right up there with gun crimes, but I don't see this mayor going after places like San Francisco or Haiti. And this guy gets away with having an (R) after his name. Lordy Lord, we are so screwed when a liberal can get away parading as a conservative. That's the real crime, imo.
I saw a Superior Court judge here in Reno, Nevada threaten a man with immediate jail time if he said the words “US Constitution” again in his Court.
It sounds like Bloomberg is just another political whore. The NYC attorneys sound like a bunch of pimps.
How dare the two of you insult whores and pimps so egregiously by comparing them to Lawyers! (not all lawyers of course but a great many of them)
Ravenstar
So, what's the difference between a whore and a lawyer?
When you die, the whore stops screwing you.
Touche!
Ravenstar
Sorry.
Reminds me of the difference between a lawyer and a carp.
One is a slimy, voracious, scum-sucking bottom feeder.
The other one is a large fish.
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