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16 Gauge, the situation with the Supreme Court is not as you imagine.
Yes, Obama will probably fill at least two vacancies on the Supreme Court. He will undoubtedly choose the most liberal Justices that he can.
But it will not make any difference in Heller.
Stare decisis is the legal doctrine that governs here. Basically, it says that once a matter is settled by the Supreme Court it will not be revisited except under the most extreme circumstances. Long after Scalia is gone, the 2A doctrines he articulated will remain and will be binding upon future members of the court. All future decisions on this topic will be guided by and subject to Heller. No Justices, however liberal, will be willing to re-open Heller because it would violate this almost sacrosanct rule.
The beauty of Heller is that is VASTLY more difficult to undo than simple legislation would be. Several Justices have opined that Roe v. Wade created bad law and precedent. But have they re-opened it? Not a chance. Same for Heller. They may hate it, but they won't overturn it. It's "settled law".
The bizarre thing that is going on is that we now have considerable LIBERAL support in our efforts to get incorporation of 2A against the states.
Back in the late 1800s, SCOTUS essentially gutted the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment in the Slaughterhouse Decision. That's the one that says that states cannot abridge the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution. All incorporations since Slaughterhouse have come under the due process clause. The lib support we are getting is an effort to overturn Slaughterhouse (exceedingly hard to do). Our arguments are following the traditional path of arguing under due process, but if the liberals can use Heller to re-establish privileges and immunities, it would be even bigger than winning Heller.
No, I'm not happy about the news out of Washington. And I don't think our situation is that great. But it is also not so dire as some people would have you believe. The Supreme Court is designed to outlive and outlast the other branches of government, and to be the nearly immovable object that prevents fast, radical change.
Absent Heller, I'd be selling off firearms while it is still legal and the market is hot. As it is, I'm putting money and effort behind the NRA and figuring that the next few years will be stormy but not devastating. For at least the past decade, the tide was clearly running in our favor. Today, it is mixed.
Obama is in the process of demonstrating how you go about alienating your base, one faction at a time. My prediction is that if he keeps going the way he is, he will not even be re-nominated in 2012, much less re-elected. Key media support has already visibly eroded.
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