# data[].attributes.body
Chief Justice:
- John G. Roberts, Jr.
Robert's Court members during 2008:

John G. Roberts, Jr.

John Paul Stevens

Antonia Scalia

Anthony M. Kennedy

David H. Souter

Clarence Thomas

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Stephen G. Breyer

Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

# data[].attributes.body
At the time, the district of Colombia made it illegal for one to carry unregistered firearms at their home and prohibited the registration of handguns. Dick Heller was registered to carry a handgun on duty and registered for a one-year licence on handguns for home protection, but was denied. He then sued the district of Colombia and used the second amendment as a big defending point.

# data[].attributes.body
The lower court, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, held that the second amendment should not be overlooked during this case, which made Heller successful. They stated that,"  the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to possess firearms independent of service in a state militia and to use firearms for traditionally lawful purposes, including self-defense within the home."

# data[].attributes.body
Walter e. Dwellinger: "The Second Amendment was a direct response to concern over Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gave the new national Congress the surprising, perhaps even the shocking, power to organize, arm, and presumably disarm the State militias."
"the people are the militia, the militia are the people. "
Later on John G. Roberts claims
John G. Roberts: "But if that's right, doesn't that cut against you?

If the militia included all the people, doesn't the preamble that you rely on not really restrict the right much at all?

It includes all the people."

Walter E. Dwellinger: "Yes, I do believe it includes all the people in the sense of Verdugo-Urquidez, all those who are part of the polity."

# data[].attributes.body
Anthony M. Kennedy: "And so in effect the amendment says we reaffirm the right to have a militia, we've established it, but in addition, there is a right to bear arms.

Can you comment on that?"

Walter E. Dwellinger: "Yes"

Anthony M. Kennedy: "And this makes, it does... I think you're quite right in the brief to say that the preface shouldn't be extraneous.

This means it's not extraneous.

The Constitution reaffirms the rights, reaffirm several principles: The right of the people to peaceably assemble, the right to be secure in their homes, the Tenth Amendment reaffirms the rights, and this is simply a reaffirmation of the militia clause."

Walter E. Dwellinger: "Justice Kennedy, I think any interpretation that delinks the two clauses as if they were dealing with related but nonetheless different subject matters has that to count against it, and what you don't see in the debates over the Second Amendment are references to, in those debates, the use of weapons for personal purposes.

What you see is the clause that, that literally transposes to this:

"Because a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be-- "

# data[].attributes.body
Antonin Scalia:
"In an opinion filed with the clerk today, we affirm the judgment of the District of Columbia Circuit.

We hold that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to have unused arms for self defense in the home and that the District's handgun ban as well as its requirement that firearms in the home be rendered inoperative, violates that right.

Our opinion is very lengthy examining in detail, the text and history of the Second Amendment."

# data[].attributes.body
"Do the provisions of the District of Columbia Code that restrict the licensing of handguns and require licensed firearms kept in the home to be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment?"
- answer is on the opinion of the court

# data[].attributes.body
"The ban on registering handguns and the requirement to keep guns in the home disassembled or nonfunctional with a trigger lock mechanism violate the Second Amendment. Justice Antonia Scalia delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority. The Court held that the first clause of the Second Amendment that references a “militia” is a prefatory clause that does not limit the operative clause of the Amendment."

# data[].attributes.body
"We must decide whether a District of Columbia law that prohibits the possession of handguns in the home violates the Second Amendment. The majority, relying upon its view that the Second Amendment seeks to protect a right of personal self-defense, holds that this law violates that Amendment. In my view, it does not."
Reasoning:
"that the Second Amendment protects militia-related, not self-defense-related, interests. These two interests are sometimes intertwined. To assure 18th-century citizens that they could keep arms for militia purposes would necessarily have allowed them to keep arms that they could have used for self-defense as well. But self-defense alone, detached from any militia-related objective, is not the Amendment’s concern."

# data[].attributes.body
"The question presented by this case is not whether the Second Amendment protects a “collective right” or an “individual right.” Surely it protects a right that can be enforced by individuals. But a conclusion that the Second Amendment protects an individual right does not tell us anything about the scope of that right."
Reasoning
"Guns are used to hunt, for self-defense, to commit crimes, for sporting activities, and to perform military duties. The Second Amendment plainly does not protect the right to use a gun to rob a bank; it is equally clear that it does encompass the right to use weapons for certain military purposes."

# data[].attributes.body
The Heller case was the first time the supreme court of Colombia went into further depth about the second amendment and actually agreed with him on his use for a gun. Known for being very strict on gun laws, it was surprising to see them agree with Heller and even for viewing their previous opinion as unconstitutional.

# data[].attributes.body
This is seen as a form of judicial activism because Judge Richard stated that Heller used, “freewheeling discretion strongly flavored with ideology," rather than conservatism.

# data[].attributes.body
John Roberts

# data[].attributes.body
Dick Heller

# data[].attributes.body
supreme court

# data[].attributes.body
The flag!