Case Summary
Issue:
Whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated as against the States by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities or Due Process Clauses?
Plaintiff:
Otis McDonald; Adam Orlov; Colleen Lawson; David Lawson; Second Amendment Foundation, Inc.; Illinois State Rifle Association
Defendant:
City of Chicago, Illinois, et al.
National Rifle Association of America, Inc. (in support of Petitioners Otis McDonald, et al. )
Amicus Curiae:
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and National Association for Gun Rights
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Case History
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects the individual’s right to keep and bear arms for self-defense by striking down a Washington, D.C., law because the law banned handgun possession and required other firearms to be kept locked and unloaded. (MSLF filed a friend of the Court brief in that case on behalf of the would-be gun owners.) Although the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects the individual’s right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, it also has ruled that the Second Amendment applies only to the Federal government and is not incorporated against the States by way of the Fourteenth Amendment; however, Heller casts grave doubt on the continuing validity of the Court’s 19th-century rulings.
Recently, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Seventh Circuits refused to use Heller to apply the Second Amendment to States. In April 2009, would-be gun owners in Chicago sought Supreme Court review after the Seventh Circuit refused to apply the Second Amendment to Illinois via the Fourteenth Amendment. On September 30, 2009, the Supreme Court agreed to review the Seventh Circuit’s ruling. On November 16, 2009, Petitioners filed their opening brief. On November 25, 2009, MSLF filed a brief on behalf of its clients. Oral arguments were held on March 2, 2010.
