Americans need to ask themselves the following question: Do I want the courts to decide cases on the basis of good public policy, or do I want them to decide them on the basis of what the Constitution says?

Nearly every ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, including the recent overturn of the Washington, D.C., gun ban confronts us with this dilemma.

Naturally, most Americans want their own opinions to prevail in court cases, just as they would like their opinions to prevail in legislative debates or in elections.

However, the courts were never established for this purpose. Courts were established to uphold the existing laws, and, in the case of the U.S. Supreme Court, to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

While I'm gratified that the Constitution was upheld in the D.C. case, I am alarmed it came in a 5-4 ruling. That means we are just one Supreme Court justice away from a ruling that proclaims the Constitution unconstitutional! ...