I MENTIONED THE NINTH CIRCUIT’S CITATION OF MICHAEL BELLESILES in its anti-Second Amendment decision yesterday. Clayton Cramer reports that the Bellesiles influence goes farther than that.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has more on this subject.

I understand that Judge Reinhardt may have been especially susceptible to Bellesiles’ views because he is married to Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the Southern California ACLU and fierce proponent of gun control. I’m not suggesting that Judge Reinhardt should have recused himself, as the ACLU was not, to my knowledge, involved in the lawsuit. But I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there was a copy of Bellesiles’ Arming America on the nightstand.