"I respectfully dissent"

Small v United States I love the nature and tone of the dissenting judgments from the US Supreme Court. The quote that follows is the final paragraph from one of Thomas J's dissents. The case itself was about the phrase "convicted in any court" in legislation prohibiting people with convictions from possessing firearms - the majority ruling that it encompassed only domestic, not foreign, convictions.

The Court never convincingly explains its departure from the natural meaning of §922(g)(1). Instead, it institutes the troubling rule that “any” does not really mean “any,” but may mean “some subset of ‘any,’ ” even if nothing in the context so indicates; it distorts the established canons against extraterritoriality and absurdity; it faults without reason Congress’ use of foreign convictions to gauge dangerousness and culpability; and it employs discredited methods of determining congressional intent. I respectfully dissent.