On Monday (December 2nd), The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for NYSRPA v City of New York . This is the first time that the Supreme Court of the United States has heard oral arguments on 2nd Amendment cases since both Heller v DC and McDonald v Chicago.
The initial and underlying Issue for this lengthy legal action action is whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.
Since this case was granted certiorari (an agreement to review a case) by the Supreme Court of the United States, there have been several failed attempts by anti-gun politicians to void this case based over “mootness” claims and other actions. There is a lengthy history of policy changes and state law changes designed to end to this case. Simply put, Anti-gun forces are afraid that a pro 2A decision that might broaden the scope of the 2nd Amendment will possibly occur because of this case.
Many outside parties of interest (including CCDL) have filed or co-filed Amicus Briefs- this is a legal brief that is otherwise known as ‘Friends of the Court brief’. Amicus briefs are written to help the court understand the issues at hand.
Important Note: Several anti-gun United States Senators (Including Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut) have filed one that stands out. While most of these types of brief’s are filed with the intent of displaying the potential impact of a ruling one way or another, this brief took an entirely different approach. Rather than focusing on a constitutional argument, these senators called into question the integrity and makeup of the court that included an assertion of political bias and a thinly vailed threat to restructure the court if it doesn’t rule in favor of NYC. We encourage our members to read this source to further understand what Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal co-filed with the Supreme Court.
As soon as we have further information regarding the arguments, we will update CCDL members accordingly.
In the meantime, probably the best source of any information after Monday’s oral arguments will SCOTUS BLOG
Arguments were heard by the court. Click here for the transcript
