[firefighter1635]

As the title says i've been looking into a couple descisions the SCOTUS has made regarding our 2nd. There may be a rocky road ahead for the 2nd If a single conservative Justice retires in the next four years.

District of Columbia vs. Heller

By a 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court sided with Heller, affirming the appeals court’s decision. Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the court’s opinion and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., and justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, Jr.

The court ruled that the District of Columbia must give Heller a license to possess a handgun inside his home. In the process, the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms and that the district’s handgun ban and trigger lock requirement violated the Second Amendment.

McDonald vs. Chicago

Justice Alito, who was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and, in large part, Clarence Thomas, acknowledged that the decision might “lead to extensive and costly litigation,” but said that was the price of protecting constitutional freedoms. Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

“Although the court’s decision in this case might be seen as a mere adjunct to Heller,” Justice Stevens wrote, “the consequences could prove far more destructive — quite literally — to our nation’s communities and to our constitutional structure.”

So the SCOTUS was 5-4 on both of these landmark descisions.

Now we come to this.
http://www.wbur.org/npr/164916287/od...as-second-term
What Happens To Supreme Court In Obama's Second Term?

There has been vigorous public debate this election cycle about the Supreme Court; from the Citizens United case to the Affordable Care Act.

As we look ahead to the next four years, it's not just Congress that will undergo change. Four of the nine Supreme Court justices are over the age of 70, meaning there's a real possibility for at least one new court appointment during President Obama's second term.

The two most likely justices, says NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, are liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is 79, and Stephen Breyer, who is 74.

"If they were replaced by somebody President Obama would pick, it would not change the ideological makeup of the court dramatically," Totenberg tells Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered.

If one of the two conservative justices over 70, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, both 76, were to step down, however, you would likely see an intense battle over the appointment, Totenberg says.

"The court is split on so many issues 5-4, currently with the conservatives dominating," she says.

Here is another interesting read on it.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/c...n/amendment02/