CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer

(CNN) – Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court has reached a 5-4 decision with Justice Anthony Kennedy as the decisive swing vote.

The latest case involves the right to own a handgun in the District of Columbia. In this case, Kennedy went with the conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas. The majority concluded that the D.C. law violated the Second Amendment to the Constitution – the right to bear arms.

But Kennedy sided with the liberals in two other major 5-4 decisions, including Wednesday’s ruling that the death penalty could not apply to child rape victims. Last week, he sided with his liberal colleagues, Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter, and John Paul Stevens in concluding that terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay detention center have certain legal rights to stand trial.

All of which once again underscores the fragile balance of the court and the fact that the next president probably will have an impressive opportunity to change that balance for the next 20 or 30 years.

As I have pointed out before, John McCain says he likes justices like Roberts and Alito. Barack Obama says he likes justices like Ginsburg and Breyer.

This will be a major issue in the election for lots of Democrats and Republicans. The ramifications on a whole host of issues, not just abortion rights for women, are enormous.

A gun ownership supporter holds a placard in March outside the Supreme Court in Washington.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a sweeping handgun ban in the nation's capital, saying it violates Americans' constitutional right to "keep and bear arms."

Thursday's sharply divided 5-4 ruling gives constitutional validation to citizens seeking the right to possess one of the most common types of firearms in their homes. The gun control issue has been politically divisive for years, and the monumental decision is expected to have broad social and legal implications, especially in an election year.

Watch: What does the ruling mean?

The majority of justices disagreed with arguments that the Washington, D.C. government has broad authority to enact what local officials called "reasonable" weapons restrictions in order to reduce violent crime.

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Obama speaks to reporters in Chicago on Wednesday.

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he disagrees with a Supreme Court decision striking down the death penalty for child rapists, telling reporters Wednesday that states should be able to execute people for "heinous" crimes.

"I think that the rape of small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime," the Illinois senator said. "And if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that does not violate our Constitution."

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that capital punishment can be applied only to murderers, striking down a death sentence for a Louisiana man convicted of sexually assaulting his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

The convict, Patrick Kennedy, would have been the first rapist in 44 years to be executed for a crime in which the victim was not killed.

Obama previously has said he believes the death penalty should be available to states, but that it must be applied fairly.

Giuliani told a gathering of Christian conservative voters, "You have nothing to fear from me.".

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-New York, spoke before the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit Saturday telling the Christian based crowed "you have nothing to fear from me."

The White House hopeful came to the event facing opposition for his stance on abortion rights. He addressed the issue head on saying that he would continue the model he used while mayor of New York to "increase adoptions and decrease abortions."

Giuliani, who supports abortion rights, said he would continue to support the ban on partial birth abortions, support parental notification laws, and support the Hyde amendment, which denies federal funding for abortions. He would also make the $10,000 tax credit for adoptions permanent and "cut the red tape" involved in the adoption process. He continued by saying he would make judicial appointments in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Anthony Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Justice Samuel Alito, who are the most conservative members of the Supreme Court.

The former mayor told the audience that he came before them "with an open mind and an open heart, and all I ask is that you so the same."

But he also made it clear the he would not "pretend that I can be all things to all people."

He emphasized that he would not change his beliefs in order to tell them what they wanted to hear and at the same time made a veiled attack on his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

"For me to twist myself all up, to try to figure out exactly what you want to hear, and today say one thing and tomoorow say another thing, and a year from now, if you do that too long, you lose the sense of what leadership is all about," said Giuliani.

"Isn't it better that I tell you what I really believe," Giuliani asked the audience, "instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?"

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at one time supported abortion rights but has since reversed his position on the issue.

Giuliani later reinforced his belief in God saying, "my belief in God and reliance on His guidance is at the core of who I am."

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– CNN Producer Xuan Thai

Biden will take a break from his Iowa efforts to campaign in South Carolina on Monday.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – Sen. Joe Biden will use Monday's campaign swing through South Carolina to pick up two state legislative endorsements, his campaign tells CNN.

Biden will announce at a news conference at the State House in Columbia that he has picked up the endorsements of Democratic Reps. Jim Battle and Vida Miller. Both have served in the state legislature since 1997.

Biden now has six legislative endorsements in South Carolina.

– CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby

The Supreme Court will wade into the voter identification controversy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of state voter identification laws, amid allegations they discourage large groups of disenfranchised Americans from going to the polls.

The two voter ID cases accepted by the justices Tuesday were among 17 appeals added to the court's docket. The oral arguments will be held early next year, with a ruling by late June.

At issue is whether laws designed to stem voter fraud end up discriminating against large groups of minority and poorer Americans, who might lack proper identification or might be afraid of putting their personal information on government files.

The cases involve an Indiana law passed two years ago requiring that a photo ID be presented when casting ballots in person at polling stations around the state. Previously, citizens needed only to sign a poll book to vote.

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Alberto Gonzales was targeted by Democrats on Sunday

CHICAGO (AP) — Democrats running for president used a national meeting of trial lawyers on Sunday to attack other lawyers, pillorying Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and ridiculing recent decisions by the conservative-tilting Supreme Court.

"We want a president who will defend civil justice but we have one who is only listening to Alberto Gonzales justice," Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said at a presidential forum sponsored by the American Association for Justice, the trial lawyers group.

"We've got to have a different kind of attitude in this White House, one that respects the rule of law and recognizes that that is the essential tradition that has separated this country from so many others," Obama said.

Obama's rivals Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Joe Biden also were there, but the candidates didn't share the stage at a downtown hotel. Each spoke separately for about 20 minutes and answered questions read by a host.

The Democratic-controlled Congress has been examining whether the White House exerted undue political influence in the firings of several federal prosecutors who were overseeing corruption investigations of political candidates before the November 2006 elections.

The dispute, which is threatening to blossom into a constitutional showdown over executive power, has also branched. It now covers Gonzales' leadership as well as whether the Bush
administration overreached in its warrantless wiretapping program by not getting court approval first. Gonzales is a former White House counsel.

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Arizona Sen. John McCain noted that Monday's court ruling left standing the meat of the campaign finance bill.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Supreme Court's reversal of federal limits on independent political advertising has the potential to add "another X factor" to an already-unpredictable 2008 presidential race, one campaign finance analyst said Monday.

"It adds more money. It adds the potential for more upheaval from ad campaigns that the campaigns may want to stay away from," said Evan Tracey, a campaign finance analyst at TNS Media Intelligence.

Monday's 5-4 ruling struck down a key provision of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that barred third-party issue advertising 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election and restricted the use of candidates' names.

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