Contact: Rich Hobson, Foundation for Moral Law, 334-262-1245

WASHINGTON, June 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision today in District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that D.C.'s handgun ban violated the individual "right of the people to keep and bear arms" protected by the Second Amendment.  As the Foundation urged the Court to do in its amicus curiae brief filed in this case, the Court not only came to the correct conclusion about the Second Amendment but it did so by consulting the words of the Constitution, its history, and the people's common understanding of the amendment when it was adopted in 1791.

Judge Moore commented on this important decision:           

"Our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, like the right to acknowledge God, is one of the inalienable rights protected in the Constitution.  Today, as we urged them to do in our legal brief, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld this essential right by following the words of the law and the common understanding of the amendment when it was adopted.  We will continue to urge the Court to construe the Constitution according to its text and original meaning."

The Court's opinion in Heller confirmed that the Second Amendment was adopted by Americans in the founding era who had a healthy fear of government power and a respect for the right of self-defense.  They, therefore, protected the fundamental right of every individual--"the people"--to keep and bear firearms, a right that, just like the rights of the First Amendment, pre-dated the Constitution.  The right to keep and bear arms, the Founders knew, is the means by which our other God-given inalienable rights are ultimately protected, including the freedom of religion.

Just this past Monday, the Foundation argued that the Court should do with the "freedom of speech" clause in the First Amendment exactly what the Court did today with the Second Amendment.  In an amicus brief filed in the case of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, the Foundation argued that the original words and meaning of the Free Speech Clause had a limited understanding and was designed to protect the people from government tyranny.  The text protects speech about political matters and public figures, and does not require that public parks which display Ten Commandments monuments must also erect monuments to the Summum religion or any other.

The Foundation for Moral Law, a national, non-profit legal organization, is located in Montgomery, Alabama, and is dedicated to restoring the knowledge of God in law and government through litigation and education relating to moral issues and religious liberty.