The Supreme Court’s latest gun rights case — and its link to domestic violence

Kelsey Dallas
·2 min read
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Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations gather outside of the Supreme Court before oral arguments are heard in United States v. Rahimi on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Washington.
Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations gather outside of the Supreme Court before oral arguments are heard in United States v. Rahimi on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Washington. | Stephanie Scarbrough, Associated Press

The Second Amendment was in the spotlight on Tuesday as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about whether the government can limit gun rights with domestic violence laws.

United States v. Rahimi centers on a man, Zackey Rahimi, who was charged with violating a federal law barring people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from owning a gun. Rahimi fought the charge by claiming the law violated the Second Amendment.

Although his challenge to the federal policy initially failed, a Supreme Court ruling on gun rights from June 2022 strengthened his case. That ruling, which came in a case called New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, said that newer gun laws need to be analogous to old policies in order to satisfy the Second Amendment.

“The government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in the 6-3 majority opinion.

The decision has forced judges across the country to study up on gun laws from the 18th and 19th centuries, according to The New York Times.

When the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered Rahimi’s case in light of the Bruen ruling, it determined that “a variety of old laws identified by the government as possible analogues ... did not sufficiently resemble the one concerning domestic violence orders,” The New York Times reported.

In other words, the court ruled that the law preventing certain domestic abusers from owning guns violated the Second Amendment.

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The Biden administration appealed the 5th Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court, which heard the case on Tuesday. The Washington Post reported that conservative and liberal justices alike appeared poised to overturn the 5th Circuit’s ruling in favor of Rahimi.

“Justices on both sides of the court’s ideological divide seemed to think the Second Amendment does not keep legislatures from restricting firearm possession after some sort of court finding that a person is dangerous,” The Washington Post reported.

At one point, Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed concern that siding with Rahimi would dramatically disrupt the country’s current approach to background checks, according to The Associated Press.

But the court also made it clear that it continues to believe that the Second Amendment offers broad protections. For example, Chief Justice John Roberts pushed back at the idea, floated by a Biden administration lawyer, that the Second Amendment protects only “law-abiding, responsible citizens.”

“It can be ‘irresponsible’ not to take out your recycling,” he said, per The Washington Post.