I think some corrections are in order
Well the decision was 5-4 and my basic math skills make it 9 votes....
Since all of them voted, then none of them have guns, or they would have been
recused from the case.
A) IANAL, but I suspect that the recusal standards are much tougher than that, particular for the SCOTUS. I'm pretty certain that Justice Scalia has been photographed during a hunting trip. He may or may not own a gun. He may or may not live in D.C. Regardless, I do not think that their votes say anything about ownership or carry status.
B) As to the original question about federal judges being allowed to carry, anyone who thinks that they have some special exemption should cite it. The legislative branch writes bills and the executive branch decides, barring a veto override, whether or not those become law. The judiciary plays no part in it.
But I bet there are at least 3 sticking us with the bill for
armed security.
We know that federal judges receive some security measues funded by the government -- particularly in the wake of the murder last year of a judge's family at their home -- but I'm doubtful that individual carry or constant armed security away from the courthouse are among them.
But SCOTUS judges are not part of the federal justice system so wouldn't
fall under those exceptions. Federal judges are under congress, a separate branch
of gooberment. And since they said separate but equal is unconstitutional, they cannot
claim the same right.
A) The courts are not "under congress". See Article III of the Constitution. Congress does create the inferior courts and the Senate does advise and consent to court appointments as well as appropriating money for them but that is true for the executive branch as well. The executive, legislative, and judicial are separate and co-equal branches of the federal government.
B) I think you are confusing "co-equal" -- meaning on the same level -- and "separate but equal" which referred to legal racial segregation starting with Plessy v. Ferguson and overruled by Brown vs. Board of Education.
While politicians of all stipes and status have been known to make special rules for themselves -- and there were instances where Members of Congress were designated Special U.S. Marshals to make them federal LEOs; this practice has been discontinued as a violation of separation of powers -- , I do not think federal judges have any special authority to carry handguns in D.C.
SA-TX
