Today was a significant day in Supreme Court precedent-setting history, starting with the 5-4 decision announced early this morning, to support the individual right to keep and bear arms for self defense in the District of Columbia v. Heller case. The razor-thin majority struck down as unconstitutional the 30-year-old D.C. Firearms Control Regulations Act (1975), one of the most stringent gun control laws in the nation.

I’ve been following this court action as my boss, Assemblyman Benoit– 2007 Legislator of the Year by California Rifle and Pistol Association– floated a resolution at the start of the year to put the California State Legislature on recordas supporting the individual rights interpretation of the Second Amendment. Unfortunately,it never got considered by the full Assembly before the decision was announced, but along the way, the measure gained eleven Republican co-authors: Assemblymembers Joel Anderson, Sam Blakeslee, Bob Huff, Doug La Malfa, Bill Maze, Jim Silva, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, and Senators Roy Ashburn, Dave Cox, Tom Harman, and George Runner. Benoit’s NRA-sponsored measure is now amended to… Read More

Today Senator John McCain has endorsed the Protect Marriage Initiative that will appear on the November ballot. His statement…

“I support the efforts of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman, just as we did in my home state of Arizona. I do not believe judges should be making these decisions.”

This will present an important contrast between McCain and Barack Obama in the Fall. There is no way that Obama will support this measure given his ultra-liberal supporters here in California.… Read More

This morning I did something I don’t do often, I played “Capitol Press Corps reporter” for a few minutes. Senate and Assembly Republicans held a press conference in the offices of the Senate Republican Leader, Dave Cogdill, to discuss the need to move forward with the need to build new prison beds before the 3-Judge Panel invariably sets a inmate cap for state prisons, resulting in an early release of convicted criminals.

In addition to Senator Cogdill and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (who chimed in with his glee over the triumph of the Fresno State Bulldogs), also speaking at the presser were Senator George Runner and Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, the “lead members” for their respective caucuses on this important issue.

Also on hand were Senators Aanested and Cox and Assemblyman Benoit could devote a lot of megabytes to this topic, but I will cut to the chase. Last year the legislature passed a multi-billion dollar prison bond package because of an urgent need to build prison beds (so urgent, I might add, that the process where voters approve the bonds was skipped entirely). Well, guess what? Not one bond has been… Read More

With a link to the docs…. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upholds the Second Amendment:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. v. HELLER

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

No. 07-290. Argued March 18, 2008-Decided June 26, 2008

District of Columbia law bans handgun possession by making it a crime to carry an unregistered firearm and prohibiting the registration of handguns; provides separately that no person may carry an unlicensed handgun, but authorizes the police chief to issue 1-year licenses; and requires residents to keep lawfully owned firearms unloaded and dissembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device. Respondent Heller, a D. C. special policeman, applied to register a handgun he wished to keep at home, but the District refused. He filed this suit seeking, on Second Amendment grounds, to enjoin the city from enforcing the bar on handgun… Read More

San Franciscans are infamous for their “creative” ways of demonstrating their liberal/socialist ideology. But I think this time they’ve gone too far. The International Herald Tribune is reporting that there is a group of citizens campaigning to place a measure on the ballot renaming the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the “George W. Bush Sewage Plant.”

The “Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco” came up with their idea in the place where all truly brilliant ideas are birthed: a local bar. Not only is this proposal completely disrespectful to the office of the President of the United States, it is a waste of taxpayer money. For all its claims to be the international city of “tolerance,” San Francisco isn’t sending a very tolerant message about President Bush and his administration.

Regardless of your political opinion of any given president, the office they represent should not become the object of… Read More

Four years ago I got a call asking if I would speak to some high school students at the RNC Convention in New York City. The caller told me I would be on a panel with Mike McCurry, President Clinton’s press Secretary. Immediately I was worried that this panel was mismatched.

The group was the Junior Statesman Symposium at the RNC. The Junior Statesman Foundation is the partner to the Junior State. The Junior State is a non-partisan, student-run civic education organization. It was started in California seventy-four years ago but has since been formed in other states.

The Foundation supports the activities of the Junior State and conducts several summer school programs at prestigious campuses like Stanford, Georgetown, and Yale. They also offer several week-long programs that encourage civic responsibility among high achieving high school students.

I had the chance to go to the Summer School programs at UC Davis (now at Stanford) and Georgetown when I was 25 years younger and 200 pounds lighter. I can say it changed my life.

They have added the weeklong symposium at both the RNC and DNC Conventions. This is the… Read More

Besides the decision overuling the District of Columbia handgun ban, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important opinion today in the case of Federal Election Commission v. Davis, holding that yet another part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law violates the First Amendment.

The Court found that the so-called "Millionaire’s amendment," which establishes elevated contribution limits for non-self-funding candidates for Congress running against well-heeled self-funded candidates, is unconstitutional because it imposes different contribution limits for candidates running against each other.The opinion reaffirmed the opinion in the famous Buckley v. Valeo case which held that a candidate’s expenditure of personal funds for him or herself is a right based on First Amendmentprinciples tofully "advocate his own election." The Court found there was not a sufficient elimination of corruption or the perception of corruption to justify unequal contribution limits just because one of the candidates hasheavily funded themselves.

The court made the right decision.… Read More

FR Publisher Jon Fleischman is in the midst of a multi-day trip to the State’s Capitol, maintaining, renewing and initiating contacts to better serve FR readers. This morning we’re pleased to offer this guest commentary from Lester Snow penned exclusively for the FlashReport. Snow serves in the Schwarzenegger Administration as the Director of the State Deparment of Water Resources…