Seegars: Cert deniedReliable sources inform me that the Supreme Court denied the certiorari petition from the Seegars case, even though the docket hasn't been updated yet. In plain language, they won't be hearing that case. The usual weasel words: Denial of a certiorari petition should in no way be construed as an opinion on the merits of the case. But I think we can all read between the lines here: the present court is not ready to hear a 2nd Amendment case.
Alito may change that. Then again, he may not. The way I see it, the Court has one more chance to get it right on this one: Parker. For all I know, they may be waiting for that case with baited breath.
Among the cases denied review were Seegars v. Gonzales (05-365), an attempt by five Washington, D.C., residents seeking to revive their challenge to D.C.'s strong anti-gun law... Chief Justice Roberts was recused in the D.C. case because he was on the D.C. Circuit when it denied en banc review of the denial of standing to the gun fanciersI had forgotten about the Roberts recusal. Remember, Roberts is on the court replacing Rehnquist, most likely a solid pro-gun vote. If he had to recuse himself from Seegars, the results could have been a disaster for gun rights. The vote-counting is down to the wire as it is, without any recusal issues from our side. Note that Alito will not have recusal issues for Parker, but Roberts may, since both cases were before the DC Circuit around the same time. I don't recall Roberts voting on anything related to Parker, or serving on any of its panels, but memory is a whatchamacallit.
(The Seegars plaintiffs requested an en banc hearing to appeal an unfavorable decision by the panel, which put the question of whether or not to hear the case before the whole circuit, including Roberts; the Parker case has not yet done that).
http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/entry/6974.jsp.
