U.S. law

Over at the NY Times, Adam Liptak has been writing occasional articles exploring how the American legal system and its conception of rights differs from those in other western countries. In the two articles I’ve read so far, his case studies come from Canada.

In a momentous and long-awaited decision this morning, US Supreme Court gives a broad interpretation to the Second Amendment — saying the right to bear arms is not limited to some collective right of a militia, but protects an individual right to bear arms. In the case DC v. Heller, Washington, DC ban on handguns in the home is struck down 5-4. Scalia writes for the majority.