This week’s activity features another podcast from Radiolab. You can listen here. (Links to an external site.)Remember – you can read and search within the podcast transcriipt as you listen! See screenshot below. You just click “transcriipt” and it’ll pop up:
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/radiolab-presents-more-perfect-gun-show
As you listen, answer the following questions:
1. According to the podcast, what was the original intent of gun control legislation?
2. How does that map on to the stated intent of gun control legislation today?
3. What did SCOTUS and the other federal courts originally think about this new interpretation of the second amendment?
Note that the search for Heller Involved the search for a perfect plaintiff: test case litigation! And like many of the cases we’ve studied the Supreme Court was deciding whether or not a law (created by state legislature or US Congress) was unconstitutional because it infringes on a persons fundamental rights. These 2nd Amendment cases also reflect the struggle between the legislators and states to make their own laws vs the Supreme courts ability to invalidate laws that violate the Constitution. This applies to vague laws that violate due process, speech-related laws that violate the First Amendment, and race-based policies for juries and public schools that violate equal protection.
4. In this case, what fundamental right was Heller’s case concerned with?
5. Skim through the majority opinion in Heller (Links to an external site.). What kind of constitutional interpretation is Justice Scalia using here? (hint: remember there are two main types of Constitutional interpretation we discussed in class)
