What kind of Second Amendment case will be next for SCOTUS after Bruen and Rahimi?
Anyone and everyone following Second Amendment litigation since the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen ruling knows that it is not a question of whether, but just a matter of when, the Justices will take up challenges to various federal criminal gun prohibitions to continue adumbrating for lower courts just how they think originalistism is supported to work here. The Rahimi ruling, perhaps unsurprisingly, only deepened uncertainties (and lower court splits) on various issues, and a number of recent pieces highlighting just some of the Second Amendment jurisprudential messiness has me feeling somewhat more sure another Second Amendment cert grant will be coming soon. But these articles and other matters also have me feeling somewhat less sure about what particulars issues and cases the Court will decide to take up:
From Bloomberg Law, “Gun Litigation Will Keep Federal Appeals Courts Busy in 2025“
From the New York Times, “Courts in ‘State of Disarray’ on Law Disarming Felons“
From Reason, “5th Circuit Reaffirms That Prosecuting a Marijuana User for Illegal Gun Possession Was Unconstitutional“
From Stateline, “Judges topple gun restrictions as courts chart an uncertain path forward“
From The Volokh Conspiracy, “Ohio Court Strikes Down Categorical Prohibition on Gun Possession by People Under Indictment“
As some of the above articles highlight, there is a wide array of churning lower-court litigation assailing gun restrictions well beyond federal criminal prohbitions in 18 USC § 922(g), and so it is certainly possible that the Justices might take up disputes over restrictions on types of guns or other regulatory matters before addressing federal possession prohibitions again. In addition, because the incoming Trump administration could be more supportive of a more expansive view of the Second Amendment, the Supreme Court’s approach to 922(g) disputes migth get influence by some new advocacy coming soon from the Justice Department.
Interesting times.