Heller didn't win his case.

[Eleven Mike]

And "Roe" was just a pawn in Roe v Wade, FWIW. Those lawyers went shopping, too.

 

[basicblur]

Mebbe we shouldn't be so hard on the NRA?

The NRA is boasting of the win (and filing suits based on the precedent), but if you read up on it you will find that they were late to the party, and even fought the case getting going. I'm a member, but I've got to call a spade ...

From what I understand, the NRA was leery 'bout carrying this case to the Supreme Court because they were afraid the ruling would go against 'em. Based on the 5-4 vote, were they really (that) wrong? (It shoulda been 9-0).
After they couldn't persuade the parties involved, and it was obvious Heller et al were going to pursue it, the NRA threw their weight behind it.
I'm going to give the NRA the benefit of the doubt on this one-don't know that I can blame 'em for thinking this was a fight for another day.
Yeah, yeah...everybody can take exception with that because we won-if Kennedy had gone the other way I can see the finger pointing now!

 

[brickeyee]

Cases get their nomenclature from the parties involved, NOT the lawyers who argue.

 

[GigaBuist]

Mr. Levy developed the strategy, applied good legal tactics, selected the complainant's (of which Mr. Heller was only one) and due to his skill and determination all American benefited.

Bingo.

I don't want anybody looking at this, thinking that the little guy wins if he pushes hard enough, and pulling another Wayne Fincher.

Wayne's right, in my mind. He didn't do anything wrong... but he's in prison and there's another case on the books that doesn't help gun owner's at all.

 

[October]

From what I understand, the NRA was leery 'bout carrying this case to the Supreme Court because they were afraid the ruling would go against 'em. Based on the 5-4 vote, were they really (that) wrong?

Yes, they were wrong. The vote proves it. If you want to talk degrees of wrongness, will you argue that the New England Patriots didn’t really lose the Super Bowl because they were only down by one field goal at the end of the game?

I'm going to give the NRA the benefit of the doubt on this one-don't know that I can blame 'em for thinking this was a fight for another day.

What doubt is there? With hindsight, we know the outcome. The only doubt remaining is how long would we have to wait before achieving a victory of this magnitude if the NRA strategy had been followed?

Getting back to the original point of this thread...

Again: Heller did not win his case.

The way I read it, he did. From Justice Scalia’s opinion:

Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

Heller got what he wanted – that’s pretty much a win under any definition you can come up with.

 

[nutty7462]

just like a 2x4 is not a 2x4, no one wants to call it a 1.5x3.5 or a 1.75x3.75

or a tubafor

 

[Cosmoline]

Of course Heller won his case. The fact that it was an orchestrated challenge means nothing. Most of these major Constitutional challenges have been orchestrated. There's nothing wrong with it. He was the appellee to the Supreme Court.

 

[kd7nqb]

Your right Heller didnt win the American people did and freedom in general. I assume that most "big" cases that make it to the SCOTUS are orchestrated in one way or the other. Thats fine with me.

 

[Harve Curry]

Thanks for bringing up and reminding us of the evolution of this case.
DC vs Heller will forever be the name of the case.
It is beyond trivia or whatever it is history.
An important part of our Bill of Rights, keeping it aimed in the right direction of freedom.

 

[jakemccoy]

I do not mean to denigrate Mr. Heller at all. Far from it. I just wish to call to attention WHY and HOW this case succeeded along with WHO really made it happen.

These are importing things to understand when trying to bring further court cases to extend the right to keep and bear arms.

Point taken, I get it.

 

[eliphalet]

Hats off to Mr. Levy, he sounds like a true patriot to me.

 

[Remander]

 

[Eleven Mike]

Cool! I remember that one. Let's send a copy to Fenty, Daley, the justices in the minority, and a few others.

 

[basicblur]

What doubt is there? With hindsight, we know the outcome.

Ah yes…hindsight allows us all to appear so intelligent & wise, does it not?

The only doubt remaining is how long would we have to wait before achieving a victory of this magnitude if the NRA strategy had been followed?

Maybe until they thought there were more justices on the court who don’t believe The Constitution is a living document and would vote accordingly?
A "victory of this magnitude"?
Hell, man...we just squeaked by!

As earlier stated, if Kennedy had gone the other way I’ll wager a LOT of folks vilifying the NRA over this would be pointing fingers and assessing blame. There were a lot of folks thinking the margin would have been 6-3 or 7-2 that seem to be surprised how close the vote was (I wasn't one of 'em).

Just thank your lucky stars we dodged a bullet (this time)!

 

[velobard]

Cases of this nature usually don't just happen. They are selected and financed to achieve a certain results and court precedent. I have no idea what this case cost if Mr. Heller was actually paying the attorney's, but it would be astronomical.

Which is why Miller went so wrong.

 

[goon]

Actually, I think we all won on this case.

 

[October]

Ah yes…hindsight allows us all to appear so intelligent & wise, does it not?

Only if you learn from it. In this case, one of the lessons learned is that the NRA does not always advocate the best strategy when it comes to Second Amendment rights – no matter how you characterize their degree of wrongness. Maybe this will result in the NRA reassessing their strategy and finding ways to improve it.

The only doubt remaining is how long would we have to wait before achieving a victory of this magnitude if the NRA strategy had been followed?

Maybe until they thought there were more justices on the court who don’t believe The Constitution is a living document and would vote accordingly?

And when would that be? 10 years? 100 years? Maybe never? What was the NRA’s timeline for pursuing this type of victory? The bottom line is that this strategy resulted in an outcome that is better than what the NRA was advocating.

A "victory of this magnitude"?
Hell, man...we just squeaked by!

Doesn’t matter if you win by 1 or 100 points – a win is a win. Or, to put it another way, would you rather have 5-4 win now, or a 6-3 win 20 or 30 years from now?

As earlier stated, if Kennedy had gone the other way I’ll wager a LOT of folks vilifying the NRA over this would be pointing fingers and assessing blame.

And I’d be saying we should have listened to the NRA. But Kennedy didn’t go the other way, Heller didn’t lose his case, and this case showed that the NRA's strategy was too conservative.

Just thank your lucky stars we dodged a bullet (this time)!

I’ll thank my stars that there was someone with the wisdom and resources necessary to pursue a better strategy than the NRA had.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

Actually, I think we all won on this case

Nope, No we never gonna get machine guns they will ban CCW and reinstate the AWB, and there will be registration, and fees, And

(SMACK, again)


We won the case, the now 50 thread are all negativity in my opinion, I'll be in Tools and Tech for a few days until everybody comes back.

 

[Acera]

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

From, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

 

[Warren]

As long as nits are being harvested, I say it would have been real cool had the man's last name been Marvel.

 

[daniel (australia)]

From this side of a wide ocean it seems that a crucially important point has been missed here, and that is that not only did Levy act for Heller, but he planned the whole matter right from scratch, recruited the plaintiffs, ran the case all the way and funded the whole thing from his own money. That is what you call putting your principles into action, and my hat is off to the man.

 

[Logan5]

If you follow Supreme Court jurisprudence at all, you're probably glad that Heller wasn't one of these plaintiffs who's case just happened to end up in front of our nation's highest court. I was always amazed that there were people, real people, in history who ended up in front of the Supreme Court with their divorce or something... Almost always an unmitigated disaster.