Was U.S. v. Hayes a 2nd Amend. Case?

[bushmaster1313]

When the Supreme court upheld the Lautenberg Amendment in U.S. v. Hayes was the right to bear arms an issue?

Did the Supreme Court say that the Feds could ban guns to domestic violence misdemeanants?

 

[belercous]

It was not a "bear arms" issue, more of a "keep arms" question. SCOTUS found the Lautenberg Amendment to be a reasonable restriction on the possession of firearms.

Seems that an inordinately high % of domestic violence abusers go on to murder someone in their family. It was a 7-2 decision. (Kennedy & Alito joined the Court's decision & Thomas concurred with the outcome, if not with all the majority's reasoning)

 

[Frank Ettin]

What's interesting is that the Second Amendment does not appear to have been raised in the appeal and is nowhere mentioned (at least in my scanning of it) in the Supreme Court opinion: US v. Hayes, 129 S. Ct. 1079 (Supreme Court, 2009).

The issue, as described in the introductory paragraph to the opinion, is very narrow:

"...The definition of "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence," contained in § 921(a)(33)(A), is at issue in this case. Does that term cover a misdemeanor battery whenever the battered victim was in fact the offender's spouse (or other relation specified in § 921(a)(33)(A))? Or, to trigger the possession ban, must the predicate misdemeanor identify as an element of the crime a domestic relationship between aggressor and victim?..."

SCOTUS went on to remand the case to the Fourth Circuit for further proceedings.

 

[bushmaster1313]

I do not think it had anything to do with the RTKBA

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-608.ZO.html

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

The legal issue in Hayes was whether a domestic relationship had to be an element of the crime in order to trigger the misdemeanor domestic violence prohibition. No Second Amendment angle was briefed or argued.

 

[bushmaster1313]

Have there been any post Heller challenges to the Lautenberg Amendment?

Might be hard to find a sympathetic plaintiff.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

There are several post-Heller challenges to Lautenberg that are working their way through the court system now - one of the major cases is:

United States v. Skoien.

Also Al Norris has done a tremendous job at TFL of listing all the current Second Amendment litigation that is ongoing. Just making the list and keeping it updated is a fairly massive undertaking; but it is worth a read if you are interested in that:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=416973