Following their June decision to invalidate the state’s previous concealed carry laws, Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have expressed concern about a New York gun control measure imposed by the Democratic supermajority. Both judges acknowledged that this new law may include “serious” difficulties.
Justices issued a warning that the new legislation “presents novel and serious questions under both the First and the Second Amendments,” even if lower courts continued to hear arguments in favor of and against it while the nation’s top court opted not to get involved.
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Newsmax reported:
The ability of New York to prevent access to guns in “sensitive places,” like schools and playgrounds was maintained by the Supreme Court last week. Proper safety precautions are being kept in place for the welfare of the populace until a federal appeals court hears arguments in opposition to this decision.
In a statement accompanying the ruling, Alito and Thomas, two of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court, said the legislation “presents novel and serious questions under both the First and the Second Amendments.”
“Applicants should not be deterred by today’s order from again seeking relief” In a combined statement, Justices Alito and Thomas of the Supreme Court urged the lower courts to quickly rule on cases challenging New York legislation or to provide justification for their inactivity.
In order to reverse an appeal court judgment that had delayed a lower federal judgement contesting certain provisions of the firearm act, gun rights organizations and gun owners petitioned the Supreme Court for assistance.
“Thomas in June authored the high court’s New York State Rifle & Pistol, Inc. v. Bruen decision that struck down a New York law regulating who is allowed to carry a concealed weapon in public. The state then rewrote the law,” Newsmax reported.
“Now, there are four Second Amendment-related challenges to that law at the federal appeals court level. The 2nd Circuit, which holds a 7-6 Democratic-led majority, announced Friday it would hear arguments March 20 against several provisions in New York’s law,” the outlet continued.
The US 2nd Circuit court’s December ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court without dissent. This came after a decision in November that saw the majority of the amended law’s provisions annulled at the district level. As a result, according to The Washington Examiner, certain parts are still on hold at the moment.
According to Alito and Thomas’s letter to the high court, “reflect respect for the 2nd Circuit’s procedures in managing its own docket,” Adding that the decision was not intended to evaluate the law’s merits or lack thereof.
Professor Josh Blackman of the South Texas College of Law was unsurprised that the Supreme Court, faced with a comparable issue, decided to defer to the 2nd Circuit notwithstanding its recent decision in June.
“So I think what Alito was saying is, yes, this will take some time to work its way through the system. But the 2nd Circuit should be very mindful that they can’t just sort of ignore [the June ruling]; they have to sort of grapple with its decision,” he said.
He continued, emphasizing that he doesn’t think lower federal courts should interpret Second Amendment decisions so narrowly. “lower courts are going to like [the] Bruen [decision], especially in places like New York and New Jersey.”
“What’s new is that if the 2nd Circuit completely botches Bruen, the Supreme Court may intervene early,” Blackman told the Examiner. “So I think there’s an incentive for the 2nd Circuit to take very carefully what’s in Bruen and not just sort of rely on old precedents.”
The Second Amendment’s guarantee that people have the right to keep and bear guns in public was upheld in New York in a landmark decision in June. In response, Governor Kathy Hochul took prompt action by approving updated concealed carry regulations that would protect residents throughout the state.
The new legislation is swiftly challenged in court, with plaintiffs relying on the well-known Bruen decision to do so.
“They seem to be designed less towards addressing gun violence and more towards simply preventing people from getting guns — even if those people are law-abiding, upstanding citizens, who according to the Supreme Court have the rights to have them,” In August, a group of like-minded people, headed by Brooklyn-based attorney Jonathan Corbett, who represents concealed carry applicants, decided to challenge the rule. The Associated Press interviewed him about his adventure.
