Free Republic

Feeling irrationally angry after an argument with his wife in 2015, the police were called on firearm owner Edward Caniglia to perform a welfare check. He agreed to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the hospital to determine suicidality on the condition that police not confiscate his guns. Upon returning to his home, however, Caniglia found that the police had unconstitutionally searched his house and seized his firearms. For the first time in 13 years, the Court upheld both privacy and gun rights, this time unanimously. Caniglia v. Strom’s 9-0 decision has the potential to create lasting effects and set precedent...

If President Bush wants to make a "diversity" pick for a Supreme Court nomination, must he swim shallow or deep in the pool of conservative minority and female possibilities? Conventional wisdom last week suggested that Bush, after tapping Judge John Roberts, a white male, for the position of chief justice, was unlikely to name another white male for the remaining high court vacancy, the seat currently held by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first female justice. Of course, conventional wisdom immediately after O'Connor announced her impending retirement held that Bush would maintain or increase diversity on the high court in...

When President George W. Bush and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee describe John Roberts Jr. as the nominee to be the 17th chief justice of the United States, Ross Davies just chuckles. That isn't a comment on Roberts or his qualifications. What amuses Davies, a law professor at George Mason University, is the number everyone uses. Davies is quite sure that Roberts, if confirmed, will be the 18th chief justice, not the 17th. In a 76-page law review article, set to be published next spring, Davies makes a forceful argument that William Cushing, a mostly forgotten associate justice appointed...

Judge Priscilla Owen U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Confirmed May 25, 2005 Since 1995, Justice Priscilla Owen has served as a distinguished and respected Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas. The American Bar Association unanimously rated Justice Owen "Well Qualified," its highest possible rating.Justice Owen has significant bipartisan support, including three former Democrat judges on the Texas Supreme Court and a bipartisan group of 15 past Presidents of the State Bar of Texas.The seat to which Justice Owen has been nominated has been designated a "judicial emergency" by the Judicial Conference of the United States....