Supreme Court May Toss Gun-Rights Case

conservative majority would expand Second Amendment protections. However, the Justice has spent most of an hour long argument on Monday debating whether to issue a ruling at all or to toss out the New York City firearms case now that the city has scrapped the restrictions on transporting licensed handguns that were at the center of the case. Joining me is a leading authority on the Second Amendment. Adam Winkler, a professor at u c l A Law school. What's

at stake in this case? Well, there's a lot at stake in this case. On one hand, it could be a very minor case. New York City. You to have these regulations in place that restricted where you could transport your firearms, but they were very unusual and unique provisions. No other city or state has similar restrictions on where you can transport a firearm, So the Court could rule

in this case in a way that's very minor. But the truth of the matter is there's been several justices who really been pushing the Court to take a Second Amendment case so that the Court can articulate broader principles for the Second Amendment and expand the scope of gun rights in America. Many legal experts were surprised when New York City changed the law and the Justices didn't dismiss the case, and people were reading into that. Did you

read into that? Well, it is always unusual for the Court to eagerly seek out a case when the law has been repealed. However, this was an unusual circumstance. It's not often that lawmakers repeal a law at the moment that the Supreme Court accepts um an appeal in a case.

So this was an unusual circumstance. So perhaps it wasn't all that surprising that the Justice has decided to move forward, But it did sound like from the oral argument that was heard in the case, that the justices seemed likely to determine in the end that this is a moot case and not issue a final ruling on the merits

of the particular provisions that have been repealed. Chief Justice John Roberts, who could be a swing vote here, asked New York City's lawyer whether declaring the case moot would harm gun owners in any way. How do you read his question? It did seem that Chief Justice John Roberts

was hyper focused on this mutinous issue. It could be that the Court has so many big, high profile cases coming before it this term that the Chief Justice wouldn't mind pushing off the Second Amendment case for a future date. And that's all it really would be. Ruling on muteness in this case does not save gun safety reform advocates from a Supreme Court decision. It's only a matter of time before the Court steps back into the Second Amendment anyway.

There's a bunch of cases that are awaiting the Supreme Court action on the Second Amendment. During the oral arguments, it appeared that the liberal justices thought nothing was left of the case, while conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsch thought the controversy was still alive. But Conservative Justice Brett Kavanagh, who wrote a dissent when the d C. Appeals Court upheld a ban on semi automatic rifles was silent,

which is unusual for him. That is unusual for him, and it's hard to know exactly what to make of his silence. It could be that he agrees that this case is moot or believes that is a very strong argument. Even many of the conservative justices, even if they're eager to step back into the Second Amendment Fray, are maybe reluctant to do so in a case where the provisions themselves have really been repealed and in a decision would come out in the middle of election, in flaming the

elect direct all the more. The Deputy Solicitor General said, lower courts have basically given thumbs up to restrictions on gun rights, but thumbs down to gun rights. Is that basically true? Have the lower courts, even the appellate courts, turned away challenges to gun regulations. Well, I wouldn't think that that's highly accurate. I mean, there's certainly the case that many forms of gun control law have survived judicial scrutiny, but that's in part because America has pretty weak gun

laws relative to other nations. That the gun rights movement is so strong politically that it prevents most states from enacting very restrictive laws. So while it's no doubt that courts have upheld many forms of gun control, I don't think that's necessarily a sign of disrespect for the Second Amendment. Do you expect that if the Court decides that this case is moot, would they just dismiss the case or might they also issue a ling that could give guidance

to this area. It seems unlikely that the Court will articulate broad principles about the Second Amendment in a case that the Court declares as moot. The whole point of declaring the case moot would be that the Court doesn't have to issue a decision on the merits. One never knows what the Supreme Court will do, of course, and we'll have to see how it goes. As you know, Justice Clarence Thomas has basically said that the Second Amendment is a disfavored amendment. Do you agree with that? I

don't think so. I think the Second Amendment is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, and just ten years ago or twelve years ago, the Supreme Court, for the first time in history in the Heller case said that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms. Over the last ten years, we've seen more cases challenging gun control laws and more gun control laws struck down than ever

before in American history. So I know, I don't think the Second Amendment is being treated as a second class right. Some analysts say that or think that it was Justice Anthony Kennedy who was holding back the other conservatives on the Court from enhancing gun rights. Well, we don't know exactly what happens behind closed doors in the private conferences of the Supreme Court justices, so we can't say for certain if anyone justice was creating a barrier to the

courts taking a new case. It is somewhat telling, however, that within months of Justice Kavanaugh replacing Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court decides to hear its first big Second Amendment case in nearly a decade. Thanks for being on Bloomberg Law, Adam. That's Adam Winkler, Professor at u c l A Law School. A note. Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg Radio, is a donor to groups that support gun control, including every Town

for Gun Safety. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law podcast. You can subscribe and listen to the show on apple Pie podcast, SoundCloud, and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brosso. This is Bloomberg m