The Supreme Court has yet to rule on two of the biggest gun cases of the term: U.S. v. Rahimi and Garland v. Cargill. Those decisions could come any day now — according to the court’s calendar, justices may issue opinions as soon as tomorrow or Friday. The stakes are high, The Trace’s Chip Brownlee explained earlier this year. Here’s a refresher on each case:
U.S. v. Rahimi deals with a 1996 federal law that bans the possession of firearms by people subject to domestic violence restraining orders. It’s considered the most closely watched gun case since the court decided New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen two years ago, when justices prescribed a new constitutional test for firearm regulations that has since upended gun laws across the country. Rahimi is anticipated to test the limits of the Bruen decision, and potentially clarify how lower courts should apply Bruen’s “history and tradition” test when weighing the constitutionality of gun restrictions. Outside observers generally agree that justices are likely to uphold the law, but should the court veer from its expected course, domestic violence victims could lose a federal protection that is often issued when they are in the most danger.
Unlike Rahimi, Garland v. Cargill has less to do with Bruen or the Second Amendment directly and is instead focused on federal agencies’ ability to interpret federal law. The heart of the case is centered on the Trump administration’s response to the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, the deadliest mass shooting in American history, which was perpetrated by a man who used a dozen rifles equipped with bump stocks. In the wake of the shooting, the ATF under Trump effectively banned the devices by defining them as machine guns, prompting Cargill, among other lawsuits. The case questions the agency’s regulatory authority and could have implications for its ability to regulate a host of other weapons and accessories.
So far, there’s been little indication of how the justices might rule in Cargill — but there may be some hints in another case. According to Roll Call, court watchers expect justices to gut or limit Chevron deference, a 1984 legal doctrine that gave federal agencies broad latitude to interpret how much power Congress granted them. Per the Associated Press, gun groups have supported the challenge to Chevron.
What to Know Today
On Tuesday, hours before President Joe Biden delivered a speech on his administration’s work to reduce gun violence, a jury convicted his son Hunter of three felony gun counts at his federal trial in Delaware. The younger Biden was found guilty of lying on background check forms when buying a revolver in 2018, charges rarely brought on their own. Over the course of the case, Hunter Biden gained a surprising base of defenders: Some prominent gun rights activists bucked partisan lines to rally behind the president’s son. [NBC/The Wall Street Journal/Politico]
Five school districts in conservative San Bernardino County, California, have an approach to safety that veers from most others in the state: In response to fear of school shootings and reported upticks in “drug use, violence and disruptive behavior,” the districts created their own police departments. Education and policing experts say these in-house departments can drain financial resources, receive little oversight, and expose marginalized students to inequitable treatment. [EdSource]
Last week, a 17-year-old student was shot and killed on the campus of Garfield High School in Seattle. Christle Young, a parent and former police officer, was waiting for her son when she heard the gunfire, and ran to administer CPR to one of her child’s classmates. Now, after dealing with multiple shootings just this school year, she and her wife are transferring their son to another school: “If this isn’t my last sign that I have to do something about this right now, I don’t know what it is.” [KUOW]
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson expressed opposition to imposing an 8 p.m. curfew for people under 18 in the city’s downtown area, a proposal floated by a political ally in response to a violent attack by teens last month. Johnson noted that “arbitrary curfews” don’t work as intended, and said he hoped to create “safer spaces” for young people. The current 10 p.m. curfew was instituted after a 16-year-old was shot and killed in Millennium Park in 2022. [Chicago Sun-Times]
The Police Department in Vallejo, California, has made headlines for an inordinately high rate of police shootings and glorifying officers who kill in the line of duty. Now, a new scandal has come to the fore: In 2016, a man died in police custody in a similar manner to George Floyd. Local officials kept the circumstances of his death — ruled an accidental drug overdose by the county Coroner’s Office, but considered by forensic pathology experts a likely homicide — covered up for eight years. [Open Vallejo]
Data Point
More than 9 in 10 — the proportion of Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike who say they support bans on gun ownership for people with felony convictions and people with mental health issues. [CNN]
