U.S.A. – The State of New York Office of the Attorney General has issued a letter to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in an attempt to moot some of the challenges to the infringements on Second Amendment rights. Those challenges are now before the Second Circuit.
When the Supreme Court published the seminal Second Amendment case in Bruen, re-enforcing the Heller opinion from 2008, in 2022, some states rebelled and defied the Supreme Court. One of these was New York. In New York, Governor Hochel, convened a special emergency session to create new law to infringe on the rights protected by the Second Amendment. The new law made it nearly impossible for an ordinary person to carry a firearm for self defense in public.
The law was immediately challenged in several court cases. Judges issued injunctions against the enforcement of the new law, on the grounds that it causes immediate harm and was likely to be overturned by the courts. Those cases were consolidated before the Second Circuit, and the Second Circuit put a stay on the injunctions. The stay allowed the law to be enforced while the case was being adjudicated.
On May 5, 2023, the State of New York Office of the Attorney General, led by the infamous Letitia James, sent a letter to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming some of the claims before the court were now moot, because of last-minute changes to the concealed carry law passed in emergency session in 2022. The changes were inserted into the state budget bill, which became law on May 3, and went into effect immediately. The case is known as Hardaway v. Nigrelli. From the Letter:
But, under the amended statute, Hardaway and Boyd—who, as their churches ’ leaders, both retain the authority to grant “permission to [themselves] to carry for purposes of keeping the peace in [their] church[es]” (J.A. 71-72)—are permitted to carry firearms at their church. Plaintiffs do not purport to raise Second Amendment claims on behalf of their congregants, and there is no authority for third-party standing in such circumstances. Thus, plaintiffs’ action challenging the place-of-worship provision is now moot.
Included in the changes were changes that allowed a person to carry on private property inside a public park, which applies to another challenge of the law. The public park change was made in an amendment to the budget bill sometime after the S4005B version was proposed on March 14 of 2023. The budget bill was passed on May 1 2023, and signed into law on May 3, 2023. The prompt action by the State of New York Office of the Attorney General indicates this change was a priority.
In 2020, the State of New York applied nearly the same tactic to moot the New York Rifle & Pistol Association case then pending before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court accepted the tactic and mooted the case, only to deliver a delayed and improved decision in the Bruen case two years later.
The Supreme Court may not be as willing to accept this tactic as they were in 2020. The case is not before the Supreme Court. Hardaway v. Nigrelli is before the United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit has been notoriously lax in enforcing rights protected by the Second Amendment.
This is more lawfare practiced by the State of New York to delay and obstruct the ability to exercise rights protected by the Second Amendment as long as possible. The letter gives cover to the Judges on the Second Circuit to moot challenges to the unconstitutional law passed in the emergency session. By placing the amendments in the budget bill, the Governor, Attorney General, and their allies in the legislature ensured there would be little or no debate on the measures.
If the Second Circuit moots the challenges to the New York Law, the decision will almost certainly be appealed to the Supreme Court, thus taking more time and delaying the exercise of Second Amendment rights even more. Two justices of the Supreme Court recognize this delaying tactic and exhorted the Second Circuit to act in a reasonable amount of time.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
They have figured out how to beat any ruling from the higher courts: Throw the kitchen sink at it, and then wait for the challenges. If they have to cede a few forks and spoons to keep the whole lot going in front of scrutiny then they are willing to do that. Meanwhile we lose 10 rights to fight to gain back 2. I feel the founders, as brilliant as they were, missed this aspect of the checks and balances. Proposed Bills should go through scrutiny BEFORE being passed into law. Not in house committee of the Legislature, but Judicial… Read more »
At some time these ever increasing abuses of the Constitution of the United States need to be stopped! Everyday, we see new laws violating the Constitution being proposed and enacted at both the Federal and State levels. Most of these laws appear more focused on restricting the possession of firearms by lawabiding persons for lawful purposes than on possession and use by violent criminals. Many of these laws, are being challenged in the courts but that takes years and millions of dollars for each, and any laws eventually overturned are mostly with extremely narrow and vague decisions. Meanwhile, for every… Read more »
I have a Concealed Weapons Permit (CCW) in my state of residence and also travel to other states. I should not need a PhD. in Law degree (or pay someone that does) to understand the laws regarding my ability to drive from my home state to another state, with stops in other states, and return to my home state; while still being able to exercise my Constitutional 2nd Amendment right of having having legal access to my firearm for the awful purpose self protection! It is fairly easy to find what states have reciprocal CCW agreements with my home state… Read more »
Bruen Decision June 23, 2022. 11 Months now and New York Federal Circuit Court dragging their feet waiting for Left Legislators to give them and out. Maybe it is good this and Young v. Hawaii — Challenges Hawaii’s ban on open carry as infringing citizens’ Second Amendment right to bear firearms outside the home. Bianchi v. Frosh — Challenges Maryland’s “assault weapons” ban under Heller’s common use language. ANJRPC v. Grewal — Challenges New Jersey’s “high capacity” magazine ban for violating the Second Amendment, the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment, and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Duncan v. Bonta — Challenges California’s “high capacity”… Read more »
If we don’t elect a Republican president and a Republican senate in 2024, gun rights will likely be stripped back away as if Bruen never existed, because of the strong likelihood of losing a couple conservative justices to retirement or death. The left, which wrongly sees Trump’s appointees as “radicals,” will insist that extreme leftist radicals be appointed in their places. SO: Republicans need to change the tone on the nominating process for 2024, which at this moment is bitter and acrimonious, dividing the party in ways that can’t just be repaired after one man becomes the presidential candidate. Everyone… Read more »
mortem tyrannis!