Cass Sunstein: "The Second Amendment: The Constitution's Most Mysterious Right"

Cass Sunstein is Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. This talk was recorded on October 23, 2007 as part of the Chicago's Best Ideas Series. © 2007 The University of Chicago Law School. "What does the Second Amendment mean? The Supreme Court has not told us, and the history seems shrouded in mist. Professor Sunstein will argue that as a matter of history, the Second Amendment probably does not create an individual right, because it was designed to protect state militias. Modern readers have immense difficulty in recovering the original meaning, because our circumstances are radically different from those of the founding. He will also argue, however, that the Court should not reject an individual right, in part because the nation is so polarized. The discussion will have many implications for constitutional interpretation and the role of the Court in political life."