Revolution 9

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has a reputation for pumping out radical, headline-making decisions with astonishing regularity. Its most interesting (and most libertarian) member is probably Judge Alex Kozinski, profiled in the new issue of Legal Affairs.

Comments

[Steve]

Kozinski's got a conservative streak in him that can be frustrating, but he is one of the most libertarian-leaning judges in the country. When the 9th Circuit ruled that the second amendment does not confer an individual right to own guns, there was a petition for an en banc hearing (this is a hearing where all of the judges would hear the case rather than just a 3-judge panel, as is the norm). The circuit denied the motion to hear the case en banc. There were several interesting dissents, but Kozinski's was the most vehement. He wrote that the second amendment was a 'nuclear bomb', designed to be used pretty much once by the population. Not for crime control, but for government control in that when the government will not listen to votes or to reason, it's time to get out the guns.

His historical and political analysis of gun ownership was very interesting. He's made enough radical statements and rulings that he probably won't even get on the Supreme Court, but frankly, I would love to see him on the Supreme court.

[Williamson Zach]

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