2A litigation Archives -

A 2A Coalition Of The Willing

This is what I would call a 2A coalition of the willing. Willing to defend the Second Amendment and our rights under it. You have state groups that are affiliated with the NRA and state groups that are independent. You have a group that represents gun dealers. You have a couple of Second Amendment legal foundations. You have a group that advocates for the right of LGBTQ individuals to protect themselves. And you have the National Rifle Association.

They have come together to file an amicus curiae brief in support of Jason Wolford and his fellow petitioners as they seek a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court. This is the same case that the United States has filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners who are challenging a Hawaii law that permits carry only on private premises that are explicit in allowing it. The Hawaii law is a challenge to the Bruen decision which said it was legal to be armed in public including on private premises. Traditionally, carry is curtailed on private property in which the owners post against it and not as the 180 degree approach of Hawaii.

This amicus curiae brief makes two major arguments. First, that the Hawaii law was invented to undermine the Bruen decision. Second, that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals misread historical precedents and relied upon outliers including a “black code” law from post-Civil War Louisiana.

The genesis of the panel’s second purported historical analogue is downright repugnant. After the Civil War, defeated Confederate states sought to enact racial apartheid. One such enactment was the 1865 Louisiana law on which the panel relied. As another court recognized in discussing this very law, Louisiana “created these laws as part of their discriminatory ‘Black Codes,’ which sought to deprive African Americans of their rights.” Kipke v. Moore, 695 F. Supp. 3d 638, 659 (D. Md. 2023) (citing McDonald
v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 850 (2010) (Thomas, J., concurring in the judgment)). The law was never
intended to be enforced against White residents.

I am greatly heartened to see these organizations working in concert on pro-Second Amendment litigation. I am especially pleased to see the NRA-ILA participating as it had gone its own way in past years and would have never cooperated with other groups like this in the Wayne LaPierre years.

Now it is time to extend this same level of cooperation to pro-Second Amendment legislation. It can’t come too soon.

Is Brewer Getting His Hooks Into NRA-ILA’s Budget?

When Chris Cox was forced out as the Executive Director of NRA-ILA, his Deputy Director and General Counsel David Lehman was out soon thereafter.

Jason Ouimet was appointed to take Cox’s position as head of NRA-ILA. As has been explained to me, he then started to search for a general counsel who would have his back and who would protect the NRA-ILA from Bill Brewer’s depredations. He went outside the Second Amendment world and hired Wade Callender who had served as a trial attorney, a Judge Advocate in the Navy, and for eight years as a general counsel in the software industry.

It appears Wade did his job too well. He protected the NRA-ILA from those outside forces such as Brewer whose goals and aims were inconsistent with the purpose of the organization. Unlike John Frazer at the NRA, he did his job as a good general counsel should therefore he was a threat.

Today a memo went out from Jason Ouimet saying that Wade will be leaving the position effective Labor Day. There was the typical mumbo-jumbo about Wade wanted to seek new opportunities and that he wanted to remain in Texas where he had been working during COVID. Ouimet did say that Wade “improved legal operations, saved millions and his counsel to me as Executive Director has been invaluable.” He is also being credited with shepherding the NYSRPA v. Bruen case through the Supreme Court.

This is bad news for the NRA-ILA. Bill Brewer has had his sights set on the ILA’s Second Amendment budget for a long time. It is another pot of money from which he can get legal fees. Wade stood in his way and now Ouimet has cracked open the door for Brewer.

Not only will the ILA not have a General Counsel who could and would stand up to Brewer but their long-time litigation counsel Chris Conte passed away in 2021. Conte was the one responsible for developing cases which then would work their way up to the appellate level.

As should be self-evident by now, Brewer and his firm are not qualified to handle Second Amendment cases. The few minor 2A cases in which he has been involved have either been dropped or dismissed. To make matters worse, qualified Second Amendment lawyers like Charles Cooper of Cooper & Kirk were purged for “disloyalty” in 2019. I have even heard rumors that Brewer thought he should have been the one to bring the NYSRPA case to the Supreme Court and not Paul Clement. Even the thought of that makes me cringe.

I’m sure we will hear more on this in the coming days as the Annual Meeting approaches at the end of May. When we do, I’ll be reporting it.