“Why These Cases May Attract The Court
The question of whether § 922(g)(1)’s ban on all covered offenders, regardless of whether the crime was nonviolent or the offender not dangerous, has resulted in a massive split between the circuits. Resolving such circuit splits are the Supreme Court’s main job, and thus the splits make Holloway and Folajtar attractive candidates to start with.”Update: Following the Court’s refusal to hear the Texas case, I’m not so confident of this.
About a year ago, we were all primed for the Supreme Court to deliver a long-awaited decision that would finally end the Second Amendment’s “second class status.” The unpredictable and unreliable Justice Kennedy had been replaced on the Court by Justice Kavanaugh, cert had been granted in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn v. City of New York, and it was about to be argued.
There were also a bunch of other Second Amendment test cases being held by the Supreme Court, waiting for consideration in light of the NYSRPA ruling. Or so we hoped. From all appearances, it appeared that there was a solid five vote majority to put a decisive end to lower courts effectively disregarding Heller.
Of course, thanks to the abject spinelessness of Chief Justice John Roberts, our hopes were dashed. Effectively, we were back to the Kennedy-era standoff with Roberts replacing Kennedy as the unpredictable pivot vote.
