U.S. v. Rahimi Sets Limits To The Second Amendment
What does this decision mean for the future of gun rights—and gun violence—in our country?
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Yesterday and today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a total of nine opinions. We’re still waiting on about a dozen cases—including some blockbusters, such as the Trump immunity case and the challenges to Chevron deference—so stay tuned.
This morning, the Court did issue its eagerly awaited opinion in United States v. Rahimi. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts that was joined in full by seven other justices, the Court rejected a facial challenge to the enforcement of 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8). In plain English, as summarized nicely by Amy Howe on the indispensable liveblog of SCOTUSblog, the Court held “that when an individual has been found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another, that individual may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment.” [UPDATE (9:57 p.m.): This language is actually taken from the syllabus, which “constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.”]
The Chief’s opinion ran a concise 18 pages. The remaining opinions—concurrences from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, plus a dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas—took the total to 103 pages.
I’m attending and speaking at a conference today, so I probably won’t get to dig through the Rahimi opinions until tonight. But I will do so, and then I’ll share my thoughts in this weekend’s edition of my Judicial Notice news roundup.
Perhaps you can give me a head start. What jumps out at you from Rahimi? Which justice’s opinion do you find most persuasive? What are the implications of Rahimi for the future of the Second Amendment? Please share your thoughts in the comments of this Notice and Comment post—open to all, not just paid subscribers.
My last two N&C posts, about the conviction of Donald Trump and the Flag-gate controversy involving Justice Alito, generated a total of more than 400 comments. And based on those comments, it’s clear that you’re opinionated, smart, well-informed, and civil (at least by internet standards).
So please, have at it in the comments to this post. I look forward to your insights.
P.S. I also look forward to the thoughts of Sarah Isgur and David French of Advisory Opinions, one of my favorite podcasts. They broke down the Thursday opinions here, and they’ll have analysis of the Friday opinions later today.
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Here's a thread on X by Carrie Severino of JCN. Although her former boss, Justice Thomas, was in dissent, she has positive things to say about the Court's decision—which she said is "yet another illustration of the obvious reality that the Court is not in the tank for one side over another, but rather working to apply neutral principles that promote the rule of law."
https://x.com/jcnseverino/status/1804200087079326073?s=46&t=dAMtcQgOk7D8xCQ6gIAPwQ
The Chief says the conduct at issue doesn’t have to be a twin to the historical precedent - just analogous. How analogous?he’swillingto sweep fairly broadly, especially, it seems to me, because Rahimi is a very bad guy. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch say, well, not too broadly, but this guy is very bad. Jackson says yes, gobroadly, because Bruen doesn’t help the lower courts and was wrongly decided. Thomas says Bruen basically requires a twin. Happy to see the 5th Circuit whacked for the second day in a row.