Political Report |
Media Ignore Facts In Dismissing NRA’s Concerns About Supreme Court Nominee
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
This feature appears in the June ’16 issue of NRA America’s
1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.
When it comes to issues that gun owners care about, media
seem to compete for the most outrageous claims. It should come as no surprise,
therefore, that while readership of traditional newspapers and trust in media
are at record lows, support for the NRA and the values we support are
increasing.
The New York Times’ March
editorial criticizing the NRA’s opposition to Judge Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination is a contender for the most extreme
case of media bias in recent memory. According to the Times, the
NRA opposes Garland simply because “it doesn’t like him” and “for no fact-based
reason.” Whether the editors are trying to mislead their readers or are simply
spouting assumptions without checking facts doesn’t matter. Either way, the
embattled newspaper continues to squander what little credibility it has left.
The New York Times’ March
editorial criticizing the NRA’s opposition to Judge Merrick Garland’s Supreme
Court nomination is a contender for the most extreme case of media bias in
recent memory.
Garland’s likability as a person is not at issue. What is
at issue is his record in cases related to the Second Amendment. As liberal Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg once said, “Public accountability through the disclosure of
votes and opinion authors puts the judge’s conscience and reputation on the
line.”
When we opposed Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court,
the Times falsely insisted that she had “no record” on the
NRA’s issues. True to our warnings—and despite Sotomayor’s hollow assurances
during her confirmation hearings—her first vote on the Second Amendment as a
Supreme Court justice saw her siding with those who believe the individual
rights interpretation in District of Columbia v. Heller was
wrong.
Garland’s record leads us to expect more of the same. And
while the Times might interpret his record differently, it is
journalistic malfeasance to insist that the NRA has no basis for opposing him.
In the 2000 case NRA v. Reno, we sued to
block the Clinton Justice Department’s policy of compiling and retaining
records from successful firearm background checks. Federal law requires
destruction of records from approved checks; prohibits transferring the
information to and recording it at a government facility; and prohibits the
government from using the records to establish any firearm registration system.
The retention scheme, the NRA argued, plainly violated these provisions.
Of the three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit who heard the case, Garland was one of two who
voted to uphold the Clinton administration policy, thus allowing the federal
government to keep records on law-abiding gun owners who passed a federal
background check.
Even more telling, Garland voted in favor of rehearing
the pro-gun ruling in Parker v. District of Columbia, the precursor
case to Heller. After a three-judge panel held that the D.C.
handgun ban violated the Second Amendment, D.C. officials predictably asked the
full court to reconsider and save the ban. Garland voted in favor of rehearing
the case.
Several media outlets, and a number of left-leaning law
professors, have tried to hide Garland’s anti-gun record by portraying these
votes as merely “procedural,” in an attempt to confuse people regarding his
view of the Second Amendment. But the fact is, judges do not vote to rehear
decisions with which they agree. If a judge thinks a panel’s opinion was wrong,
he or she votes to have the full court rehear it. If a judge thinks a panel’s
opinion was correct, he or she lets it stand. Plain and simple.
Both Heller andMcDonald v. Chicago were
decided by a single vote, and that vote is now gone.
The NRA will not stand idly by and allow these attempts
at obfuscation hide a very fundamental truth: Both Heller and McDonald
v. Chicago were
decided by a single vote, and that vote is now gone. That means there is no longer
majority support among the justices for our fundamental, individual right to
keep and bear arms. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the future of
gun ownership hangs in the balance.
The Garland nomination also serves as a reminder of
what’s at stake in this year’s elections. The next president could have as many
as three or four Supreme Court vacancies to fill. There should be no doubt that
if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, her nominees would vote to
overturn Heller and McDonald. After all,
Clinton said at a political rally that the Supreme Court “got it wrong”
in Heller. Nothing can be clearer than that.
Heller. McDonald. Names that have come to
symbolize the essence of freedom for tens of millions of Americans. In the
blink of an eye, a new Supreme Court that embraces the anti-gun views of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could erase those decisions.
Election Day 2016 is our opportunity to make sure that nightmare does not
become a reality.
Merrick Garland
Merrick Garland
is the chief judge for the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the justice nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, supervised Justice Dept. investigation of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a principal
associate deputy attorney general for the U.S.
Department of Justice, and a partner at Arnold and Porter LLP.
Note: David Bazelon was
a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit, and Martha L.
Minow was his clerk.
Martha L. Minow
was David Bazelon’s clerk, Barack Obama was her student, and is Newton N. Minow’s daughter.
Newton N. Minow
is Martha L. Minow & Nell Minow’s father, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, an honorary trustee
at the Carnegie Corporation of New York,
and a friend of Abner J. Mikva.
Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
R. Eden Martin is
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, and Martha L. Minow’s
student.
Carnegie
Corporation of New York was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank), and the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank)
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society,
and is the founder & chairman for the Open
Society Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
and the American Constitution Society.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the
United States in war)
David A. Hamburg
is the president emeritus for the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and Margaret A. Hamburg’s daughter.
Margaret A.
Hamburg was a VP for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), is David
A. Hamburg’s daughter, and a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age.
Mary DeRosa is a
member of the Markle Task Force on
National Security in the Information Age, was an attorney at Arnold and Porter LLP, and a deputy
counsel to the president for national security affairs for the Barack Obama administration.
Jeffrey H. Smith
is a member of the Markle Task Force on
National Security in the Information Age, and a senior counsel Arnold and Porter LLP.
Eric H. Holder Jr.
is a member of the Markle Task Force on
National Security in the Information Age, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, married to Sharon Malone, was an attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration, Amy
Jeffress was his counselor, and a board member for the American Constitution Society.
Covington
& Burling LLP is the lobby firm for the Americans for Responsible Solutions.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Michael D. Barnes
was a senior of counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, at the
president of the Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence.
Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Loretta Lynch is
the attorney general at the U.S.
Department of Justice, and was Sharon
Malone’s Harvard classmate.
Sharon Malone was
Loretta Lynch’s Harvard classmate,
and is married to Eric H. Holder Jr.
Amy Jeffress was Eric H. Holder Jr’s counselor, attached
to the U.S. embassy in London for the U.S.
Department of Justice, and is a partner at Arnold and Porter LLP.
David B. Apatoff
was a partner at Arnold and Porter LLP,
and is married to Nell Minow.
Nell
Minow is married to David B. Apatoff,
Martha L. Minow’s sister, and Newton N. Minow’s daughter.
Merrick Garland
was a partner at Arnold and Porter LLP,
supervised Justice Dept.
investigation of the 1995 Oklahoma City
bombing, a principal associate deputy attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, is the
chief judge for the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the justice nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abner J. Mikva was
the chief judge for the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, made the (NRA)
National Rifle Association enemies list listed in 2013, is a friend of Newton N. Minow, and a board of adviser’s
member for the American Constitution
Society.
Ruth Bader
Ginsburg was a justice for the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Goodwin
Liu was her clerk, and is a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Goodwin Liu was Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s clerk, and a
director at the American Constitution
Society.
Faith Elizabeth
Gay is a board of adviser,s member for the American Constitution Society, and was an attorney at Sidley Austin LLP.
Newton N. Minow
is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
Martha L. Minow & Nell Minow’s father, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, an honorary
trustee at the Carnegie Corporation of
New York, and a friend of Abner J.
Mikva.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, and Martha L. Minow’s
student.
Linda Greenhouse
is a director at the American
Constitution Society, and was a reporter for the New York Times.
Janet
Reno is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, and was an attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the William J. Clinton administration.
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
OF AMERICA INC v. RENO
Eric H. Holder Jr.
was a board member for the American
Constitution Society, an attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration, Amy
Jeffress was his counselor, is a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and a
partner at Covington & Burling LLP.
Covington
& Burling LLP is the lobby firm for the Americans for Responsible Solutions.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Michael D. Barnes
was a senior of counsel at Covington
& Burling LLP, at the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
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