Second Amendment decision critics must be 'confused': Jarrett
Fox News analyst Gregg Jarrett and Harvard Law professor-emeritus Alan Dershowitz sound off on 'Hannity' after SCOTUS sides against New York in gun case.
On "Hannity," Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett went after CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin's for his comments about the SCOTUS Second Amendment ruling released today.
After Toobin erupted over the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in favor of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, the left-wing former attorney was criticized for suggesting the Second Amendment is a second-class right.
Toobin, once a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, blasted conservatives and suggested the right to bear arms is not on par with the right to freedom of speech, religion and assembly:
"We know that in the United States you have the right under the First Amendment to say pretty much anything anywhere because we have freedom of speech in the United States. What the conservatives on the Supreme Court are saying is we want the Second Amendment to be a first-class right like the First Amendment," Toobin said during a lengthy response to the ruling.
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Toobin (Getty Images/Photo illustration)
Jarrett said the ruling, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, was predictable because it was in line with past rulings like the Heller decision a decade ago:
"Justice Thomas waited until page 62 to point out that the Second Amendment isn't a second-class right – And over on CNN, I was amazed and amused to watch legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin throw a hissy fit as if that's some new and novel concept," he said.
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Jarrett (Fox)
"If Jeff had actually read the decision, he would have noticed that Thomas –his statement was in quotes. Where did it come from? It came from the last major Supreme Court decision (Heller v. District of Columbia) 12 years ago, which Toobin either didn't read or he didn't remember."
He disagreed with Toobin's assertion that conservatives want unfettered gun use, noting Justice Scalia's majority in the Heller decision – while siding with the individual right to bear arms – stated "very clearly" reasonable restrictions are legal.
"So we will have to wait and see whether things like background checks and red flag laws with due process are permissible. But I suspect those things would be," Jarrett predicted.