how long does it take to invent a civil right?

Around twenty years, apparently. The whole article is worth a read, as it gives a nice historical perspective of the relationship between both parties and the courts. But the next time you hear that canard about “judicial activism” being the provenance of the left, remember this quote:

For many decades, into the nineteen-eighties, it was widely agreed among judges and scholars that the right to bear arms belonged only to militias, and thus the Second Amendment imposed no limits on the ability of states and localities to enact gun-control laws. Warren E. Burger, the former Chief Justice (and no liberal), said that any other view of the law was a “fraud,” and Robert Bork (ed. note: !!!!!), the conservative hero, said much the same thing. But Meese and his allies in the National Rifle Association were indefatigable in pushing an opposing interpretation, and their position became widely adopted, first in the Republican Party and then among many Democrats. Finally, in 2008, the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Antonin Scalia (who was appointed while Meese was attorney general), struck down a District of Columba gun-control law as a violation of the Second Amendment. A fringe position – a “fraud” – two decades earlier had become the law of the land.