With SCOTUS Hearing Two Gun Rights Cases This Term, the Pipeline is Packed With More Important 2A Issues to Decide

The Supreme Court will have plenty of opportunities to tackle these questions over the next several years. There are quite a few petitions for certiorari that are currently pending, and many challenges working their way through the lower courts. Can you tell us about your pending cases and the questions they raise?

There are several issues that are ready for Supreme Court review. I will mention a few examples to provide an idea of the types of issues that may be coming soon to the court, while making clear that this is not a comprehensive list.

First is the constitutionality of bans on semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15. Under Heller’s common use test, it should be clear that AR-15s are protected and cannot be banned. Indeed, in a unanimous opinion last term the Supreme Court described the AR-15 as “the most popular rifle in the country.” Yet the lower courts have generally upheld bans on AR-15s. The Supreme Court should take this issue soon. There were three votes for cert last term in Snope v. Brown, and a fourth Justice, Justice Kavanagh, voted to deny cert but explained that “this Court should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next Term or two.” There are several petitions currently before the court presenting this issue, and there are several in the pipeline behind them, including pending cases in the 3rd, 7th, and 9th Circuits.

Second is the constitutionality of bans on purchasing or carrying firearms by 18-to-20-year-old adults. There is a circuit split on these issues, with several circuits holding that such restrictions violate the Second Amendment, and several circuits holding that they do not. There are several cert petitions pending at the court presenting this issue.

Third is the constitutionality of so-called “sensitive place” restrictions. Notably, the Wolford case before the court does not involve such a restriction. Rather, the presumptive ban at issue in Wolford only is material in locations that Hawaii has not deemed sensitive, because in those “sensitive” locations members of the public cannot lawfully carry even if a property owner authorized them to. Cooper & Kirk has a petition before the court in a case from the 7th Circuit challenging Illinois’ ban on carrying firearms on public transportation, and there are several cases presenting these types of restrictions in the courts of appeals, including before the en banc 3rd Circuit.

Fourth is the constitutionality of the federal law barring felons from possessing firearms. Several circuits have held that the law is subject to as-applied challenges by certain felons, while other circuits have held that the law is constitutional in all of its applications, regardless of the nature of the predicate offense. Again, there are several cert petitions before the court on this issue. United States v. Hemani, one of the cases the court will hear this term, involves a related provision prohibiting individuals who unlawfully use controlled substances from possessing firearms.

— SCOTUSblog’s Hayley Proctor interviewing Cooper & Kirk’s Pete Patterson