by September 4th was the last day to submit a brief in support of the petitioners in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins. That is because under Supreme Court rules amicus briefs at the merit stage are due no more than seven days after the petitioners have submitted their brief. Amicus briefs in support of neither party must be submitted within the same seven day period after a petitioner or appellant submits their brief.
Given these two cases were the first two the Supreme Court accepted that deal with bans on AR-15s and similar semi-automatic firearms, a very large number of amicus briefs have been submitted. I imagine the gun control industry will submit a large number as well after Cook County and Connecticut file their response briefs.
Here is a breakdown of the numbers. Amici is the legal term for the organizations or individuals who are named in the amicus briefs.
- 45 amicus briefs
- 43 in favor of the petitioners
- 2 in favor of neither party (Prof. Akhil Reed Amar and US Conf. of Catholic Bishops)
- 104 organizational amici
- 63 individual amici
- 27 states in favor of petitioners
- 63 members of the House of Representatives (counted as an organization)
A number of arguments have been put forth in favor of the petitioners. A number make the point the AR-15 and semi-automatic firearms are in common use and because they in common use they cannot be considered dangerous and unusual. Some petitions go into the history of firearms and how multi-shot firearms have been around since before the American Revolution. A few suggest the Supreme Court needs to give explicit guidance in their rulings and provide “benchslaps” when lower courts misconstrue the intent. Others discuss the AR-15 as the modern analog of the Brown Bess musket that colonies and later some states required citizens to own as members of the unorganized militia.
This link will take you to the Supreme Court docket where any or all of the briefs can be read or downloaded.
All the major Second Amendment organizations filed amicus briefs as did many smaller organizations. The Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Connecticut Citizens Defense League as parties to the cases were precluded from filing amicus briefs. Of particular note was that the Solicitor General on behalf of the United States filed an amicus brief in favor of the petitioners. As I said elsewhere, elections have consequences and you would not have seen this from a Biden or Obama Administration.
As expected, the National Rifle Association and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund each submitted amicus briefs. However, the involvement of NRA directors as individuals or officers of other organizations that were amici was also significant.
- Knox Williams (Individual and American Suppressor Association)
- Rob Beckman (Individual and Ohio Rifle & Pistol Association)
- Dennis Fusaro (Individual)
- Todd Vandermyde (Aurora Sportman’s Club and Second Amendment Defense & Education Coalition)
- Huey Laugesen (Colorado Shooting Sports Association)
- Charlie Hiltunen (Indiana State Rifle and Pistol Association)
- Theresa Inacker (Coalition of NJ Firearms Owners)
- Scott Bach (Assn of NJ Rifle & Pistol Clubs)
- Jim Wallace (Gun Owners Action League)
- Charlie Beers (NY State Rifle & Pistol Association)
- John Richardson (Grass Roots NC and Rights Watch International)
The joint cases have been placed on the calendar for oral arguments on Wednesday, December 2nd. I will be listening!
