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October 5, 2009 | Recorded on August 5, 2009
The Law and More with Judge Laurence Silberman
In Parker v. the District of Columbia, Judge Silberman wrote the 2007 opinion striking down parts of the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns as unconstitutional.
Here he explains how his thinking about the Second Amendment evolved “When the case first came to me, I had been under the impression…that the Second Amendment [the right to bear arms] was a collective right. When I looked into it, I concluded to the contrary.” Silberman further advances the “theory of originalism” and defends the positions he staked out 30 years ago when he published a famous essay titled “Will Lawyering Strangle Democratic Capitalism?” Finally, as one of the principals of the Robb/Silberman Commission, he takes on the assertion that “Bush lied, people died,” labeling it “an absurd and outrageous libel.” (41:39) Video transcript