Article
| Title: | Recontextualisation of the Second Amendment and Supreme Court decisions in The New York Times |
| Author: | |
| Source document: | Brno studies in English. 2012, vol. 38, iss. 1, pp. [23]-37 |
| Extent: | [23]-37 |
| ISSN: | 0524-6881 (print); 1805-0867 (online) |
| DOI: | 10.5817/BSE2012-1-2 |
| Type: | Article (English) |
| Stable URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/124302 |
| License: |
PDF
Abstract(s):
The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was written over two centuries ago, but it is yet to find a definitive interpretation. The current article aims to explore its history by investigating how it has been recontextualised in Supreme Court precedents. A related aim is to underline the historically contingent nature of discourse through focusing on the phenomenon of recontextualisation. The media representation of the three Supreme Court precedents that have dealt with the amendment, United States v. Miller, District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, is analysed. Media texts were collected from The New York Times between 2007 and 2011. The analysis looks at two articles from that period and includes the single article on the 1939 Miller decision. The results illustrate how the amendment has acquired new meanings by moving from one context to another and, thus, given rise to new texts and discourses.
Keywords:
discourse analysis; recontextualisation; media discourse; the United States; Second Amendment; gun rights
References:
[1] Bernstein, Basil (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity. Theory, Research, Critique. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
[2] Blackstone, William. (N.d.[1765]) Commentaries on the Law of England. Available at http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-101.htm, accessed June 22, 2011.
[3] Blommaert, Jan (2005) Discourse. A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | DOI 10.1017/CBO9780511610295.003
[4] Brown, Michael S. (2001). The Strange Case of United States v. Miller. Available at http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0801/0801usvmiller.htm, accessed February 16, 2008.
[5] Caldas-Coulthard, Carmen Rosa (2003) " Cross-cultural Representation of 'Otherness' in Media Discourse." In: Weiss, Gilbert and Ruth Wodak (eds.) Critical Discourse Analysis. Theory and Interdisciplinarity. Hampshire and New York: Palgrave, 272–296.
[6] Chouliaraki, Lilie and Norman Fairclough (1999) Discourse in Late Modernity. Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[7] Cornell, Saul (2006) Well-regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origin of Gun Control in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
[8] Cress, Lawrence Delbert (1984) " An Armed Community: The Origins and Meaning of the Right to Bear Arms." The Journal of American History 71 (1), 22–42. | DOI 10.2307/1899832
[9] Denniston, Lyle (2010) " Second Amendment Drama: Act II." Available at http://www.scotusblog.com/?p=16704, accessed April 23, 2011.
[10] District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) District of Columbia et al., Petitioners v. Dick Anthony Heller. 554 U.S. (2008) Available at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf, accessed February 12, 2009.
[11] Doherty, Brian (2008) Gun Control on Trial. Inside the Supreme Court Battle over the Second Amendment. Washington, D.C.: CATO Institute.
[12] Ehrlich, Susan (2007) " Legal Discourses and the Cultural Intelligibility of Gendered Meanings." Journal of Sociolinguistics, 11 (4), 452–477. | DOI 10.1111/j.1467-9841.2007.00333.x
[13] Fairclough, Norman (1999) Discourse and Social Change. Oxford: Blackwell.
[14] Fairclough, Norman (2001) " The Discourse of New Labour: Critical Discourse Analysis." In: Wetherell, Margaret, Stephanie Taylor and Simeon J. Yates (eds.) Discourse as Data. A Guide for Analysis. London: Sage Publications.
[15] Fairclough, Norman (2003) Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.
[16] Fairclough, Norman (2005) " Critical Discourse Analysis in Transdisciplinary Research." In: Wodak, Ruth and Paul Chilton (eds.) A New Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis. Theory, Methodology and Interdisciplinarity. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 53–70.
[17] Fairclough, Norman (2006) " Semiosis, Ideology and Mediation: A Dialectical View." In: Lassen, Inger, Jeanne Strunck and Torben Vestergaard (eds.) Mediating Ideology in Text and Image: Ten Critical Studies. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 19–35.
[18] Frye, Brian L. (2008) " The peculiar story of United States v. Miller." NYU Journal of Law & Liberty 3 (1), 48–82.
[19] Greenhouse, Linda (2008) " Justices, Ruling 5–4, Endorse Personal Right to Own Gun." Available at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E2DD1431F934A15755C0A96E9C8B63&scp=30&sq=%22second+amendment%22&st=nyt, accessed April 1, 2009.
[20] Gura, Alan (2007) " Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Second Amendment Challenge to D.C. Gun Ban." Available at http://dcguncase.com/blog/, accessed February 17, 2008.
[21] Hodges, Adam (2008) " The Politics of Recontextualisation: Discursive Competition over Claims of Iranian Involvement in Iraq." Discourse & Society 19 (4), 483–505. | DOI 10.1177/0957926508089940
[22] Kopel, David (2007) " Gun Prohibitionists Mostly Misfire." Available at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8807, accessed 16 February, 2008.
[23] Kristeva, Julia (1986) " Word, Dialogue and Novel." In: Moi, Toril (ed.) The Kristeva Reader. New York: Columbia University Press, 34–61.
[24] Levinson, Sanford (1989) " The Embarrassing Second Amendment." The Yale Law Journal 99 (3), 637–659. | DOI 10.2307/796759
[25] Levy, Robert A. (2007) " The D.C. Gun Ban: Supreme Court Preview." Available at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8717, accessed February 17, 2008.
[26] Levy, Robert A, Ilya Shapiro and Roger Pilon (2009) " National Rifle Association v. City of Chicago; McDonald v. City of Chicago." Cato Institute, July 6. Available at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10336, accessed June 8, 2011.
[27] Liptak, Adam (2010) " Justices Extend Firearm Rights in 5-to-4 Ruling." The New York Times, June 29. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/29scotus.html?r=1&scp=2&sq=second%20amendment&st=cse, accessed July 22, 2010.
[28] McDonald v. Chicago (2010) Otis McDonald, et al., Petitioners v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al. 561 U.S. (2010). Available at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf, accessed January 13, 2011.
[29] Põiklik, Pille (2011) " The Unalienable Right to Keep and Bear Arms? Interpreting the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution in the Light of American Ideals." Estonian Journal of English Studies 2 (1), 110–124.
[30] Rahm, Henrik (2006) " Getting attention in the media." In: Lassen, Inger, Jeanne Strunck and Torben Vestergaard (eds.) Mediating Ideology in Text and Image: Ten Critical Studies. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 193–210.
[31] Savage, David (with Kristen Schorsch contributing) (2009) " Supreme Court to hear challenge to Chicago gun law." Chicago Breaking News Centre, September 30. Available at http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/supreme-court-may-decide-on-hearing-chicago-gun-cases.html, accessed November 12, 2010.
[32] Scarola, Matthew (2010) " Analysis: state gun regulations and McDonald." Available at http://www.scotusblog.com/?p=22475, accessed 22 May, 2011.
[33] Shalhope, Robert E. (1982) " The Ideological Origins of the Second Amendment." The Journal of American History 69 (3), 599–614. | DOI 10.2307/1903139
[34] Silverstein, Michael and Greg Urban (1996) " The Natural History of Discourse." In: Silverstein, Michael and Greg Urban (eds.) Natural Histories of Discourse. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1–17.
[35] Silverstone, Roger (1999) Why Study the Media? London: Sage Publications.
[36] The New York Times (1939) " Supreme Court Bars Sawed-Off Shotgun. Denies Constitution Gives Right to Carry This Weapon." The New York Times, May 16.
[37] United States v. Miller (1939) //307 U.S. 174//. Available at http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/bills/blusvmiller.htm, accessed January 12, 2010.
[38] U.S. Constitution Online (N.d.) " Constitutional Topic: The Second Amendment." Available at http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_2nd.html, accessed August 1, 2010.
[39] van Leeuwen, Theo (2008) Discourse and Practice. New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[40] Williams, David C. (2003) Mythic Meanings of the Second Amendment : Taming Political Violence in a Constitutional Republic. New Haven: Yale University Press.
[41] Winkler, Adam (2007) " Scrutinizing the Second Amendment." Michigan Law Review 105 (4), 683–733.
[42] Winkler, Adam (2009) " Heller's Catch 22." UCLA Law Review 56, 1550–1577.
[43] Woll, Peter (1990) American Government. Readings and Cases. 10th edition. New York: Harper Collins.
