"Gun Battle at the White House?"

Robert Novak's piece today might make some Republicans feel better, and give some hope that Paul Clement's argument next week before the Supreme Court might disavow part of the Department of Justice's brief.

In preparation for oral arguments Tuesday on the extent of gun rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has before it a brief signed by Vice President Cheney opposing the Bush administration's stance. Even more remarkably, Cheney is faithfully reflecting the views of President Bush.

The government position filed with the Supreme Court by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement stunned gun advocates by opposing the breadth of an appellate court's affirmation of individual ownership rights. The Justice Department, not the vice president, is out of order. But if Bush agrees with Cheney, why did the president not simply order Clement to revise his brief? The answers: disorganization and weakness in the eighth year of his presidency.

Consequently, a Republican administration finds itself aligned against the most popular tenet of social conservatism: gun rights, which enjoy much wider agreement than do opposition to abortion or gay marriage. . . .

I disagree with the next sentence: "Bush finds himself to the left of even Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama." In fact, Obama's position is essentially that of the Justice Department brief.