McDonald v. Chicago
Precedent and Facts
Two years earlier, D.C. v. Heller (2008) established an individual right to bear arms for self-defense and struck down D.C.'s handgun ban, but only applied to the federal government. Chicago had an effective handgun ban since 1982 by requiring licenses and then denying every application. Otis McDonald, a 76-year-old whose home had been broken into five times, sued, arguing his legally owned shotguns weren't practical for home defense and he couldn't legally get a handgun. The question: does the Second Amendment apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment?
The Decision
In another close 5-4 ruling, the Court held that the Second Amendment's individual right to bear arms for self-defense does apply to the states, striking down Chicago's effective ban.
- Selective Incorporation: the Court used the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to make the Second Amendment binding on states, meaning states can no longer violate this right either.
- The majority leaned on Heller, which read the amendment's words "the right of the people" as an individual right not tied to militia service. It then asked whether that right is fundamental and deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition (the test for incorporating a right) and said yes, since "Self-defense is a basic right."
The Liberty vs. Order Debate
The dissent, via Justice Stevens, argued that "firearms have a fundamentally ambivalent relationship to liberty": a gun can protect its owner, but it can also threaten other people's safety. Because gun problems differ so much from place to place, Stevens argued gun regulation should be left to state and local legislatures, calling it "a quintessential area in which federalism ought to be allowed to flourish." Justice Breyer wrote a separate dissent arguing the right isn't fundamental enough to apply to the states.
Big picture
McDonald acted as a standardization stamp for the Second Amendment. After Heller established the right at the federal level, McDonald used the Fourteenth Amendment to extend that same standard to every state and city, meaning local governments like Chicago can no longer effectively ban handgun ownership either.
Case Brief for the FRQ
- Year: 2010
- Facts: Otis McDonald, a 76-year-old Chicago retiree, sued because the city's handgun ban kept him from having a handgun at home for self-defense.
- Constitutional question: Does the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense apply to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment?
- Holding: 5-4, opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. Yes: the right applies to states and cities too, so Chicago couldn't ban handguns in the home.
- Reasoning: Self-defense is a basic right, and the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental to the American system of liberty and deeply rooted in the nation's history, which is the test for incorporation. Four justices used the Due Process Clause; Justice Thomas, the fifth vote, used the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause instead.
- Clause or principle: Second Amendment; Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause; selective incorporation.
- Course connections:
- Unit 3 (3.5, 3.6, 3.7): EK 3.5.A.1, the Court's interpretation of the right to bear arms; EK 3.7.A.1, selective incorporation limits state regulation of civil liberties; EK 3.6.A.2, the debate over whether gun regulation promotes public safety or interferes with individual rights.
- Unit 1 (1.8): EK 1.8.A.1, the Fourteenth Amendment lets the federal courts enforce rights against the states.
- Unit 4 (4.7): EK 4.7.A.1, gun policy splits the parties, with Republicans generally favoring gun rights and Democrats generally favoring more regulation.
- Unit 5 (5.6, 5.7): EK 5.6.A.1, interest groups use the courts too, by backing lawsuits like this one and filing amicus curiae briefs.
- Compare with: Gideon v. Wainwright (both used the Fourteenth Amendment to apply a Bill of Rights protection to the states) and U.S. v. Lopez (also about guns, but decided on federalism, not the Second Amendment).