Author: Chris Johnson
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Harrel v. Raoul, Denial of Certiorari
The State of Illinois enacted a law that makes it a felony to possess what Illinois branded “assault weapons,” a term defined to include AR–15s. See Ill. Comp. Stat., ch. 720, §5/24–1.9(a)(1)(J)(ii)(II) (West 2023). “The AR–15 is the most popular semi-automatic rifle” in America and is therefore undeniably “in common use today.” Heller v. District…
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It followed me home! Can I keep it?
I am attempting to learn a new skill. Wood turning. This is a Craigslist find. The cost was good enough. The motor and lathe chuck are worth more than I paid for it. So I wasn’t concerned about it working. The lovely people we bought if from were ready when we arrived, s Tuesday, I…
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Immunity for official acts
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR has thoroughly addressed the Court’s flawed reasoning and conclusion as a matter of history, tradition, law, and logic. I agree with every word of her powerful dissent. I write separately to explain, as succinctly as I can, the theoretical nuts and bolts of what, exactly, the majority has done today to alter the…
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Paris is burning?
“That’s a nice business you have here, it would be a shame if anything happened to it.” For years and years, I was told to shut up and sit down when the Supreme Court made a 6-3 or 5-4 decision. My side lost. Just shut up. And once I lost, I was told that I…
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Turn about is fair play
Yesterday, I went up to the Fort at #4 to pick up Allyson and to play with the Lathe. This time I took my chisels and was better prepared. I also took along some grease. With a bit of patience, I got the lathe belted back up. About that time, Allyson arrived. She took on…
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Shop Improvements
The goal is to make my shop a usable space again. I used to have around 8 square feet of workbench, of which 2+ were taken up with the bench vise. The wielding table is outside. The hydrologic press is outside. The blast cabinet is outside. Normally, they are under tarps, but that isn’t a…
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Chevron is dead, long live Loper
Just what is ? Chevron is the case where the Supreme Court found that the courts, both the Supreme and the inferior courts, should defer to “permissible” agency interpretations of statutes those agencies administer.. The Chevron doctrine was another two-step framework. 1) Did Congress directly address the precise question, and was the congressional intent clear?…
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Rahimi Fallout
There was a reason that the DoJ wanted Rahimi before the Supreme Court. The facts in his case were bad facts. Bad facts lead to bad law. The first thing to note about the Rahimi opinion, is that it is an “as applied”. This means the opinion only counts for Rahimi. The decision does not…
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Achieving Precision in Woodworking: Traditional and Modern Tools Compared
There was a remark about the lathe flywheel I recently worked on. Something about the precision of previous eras. They had more precision than you might think. Today, one of the tools we use to measure accurately is a micrometer. This magic device allows use to measure down to 0.0001, all because of a screw.…
