SCOTUS Gun Watch – Week of 8/31/20
As August comes to end, we get that much closer to a new Supreme Court term. In less than a month, the Court will meet for its Long Conference to discuss the accumulating pile of cert petitions. Several firearms law and Second Amendment petitions will be there. Based on the Court's actions last term, it may not be in the mood to take a Second Amendment challenge straight on. But some of the cases below raise related or adjacent issues and may be decent candidates if enough justices still want to say something about guns. I think Zoie H. might be a sleeper case in that respect; Paul Clement, the lawyer for the NYSRPA petitioners, is counsel again and the case has some cross-ideological appeal.
| Case | Ct. Below | Pet. Filed | Implicated Law/Issue | Status |
| Rodriguez v. San Jose | 9th Cir. | 21-Feb-20 | Warrantless search and seizure of firearms under Second & Fourth Amendments | distributed for 29-Sept-20 conf. |
| Johnson v. United States | 4th. Cir. | 12-Jun-20 | Vagueness challenge to the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause | distributed for 29-Sept-20 conf. |
| Zoie H. v Nebraska | Neb. Sup. Ct. | 22-June-20
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Second and Sixth Amendment challenge to jury-less conviction that can result in gun disqualifer for juveniles | distributed for 29-Sept-20 conf. |
| Caniglia v. Strom | 1st Cir. | 10-Aug-20 | Fourth Amendment challenge to gun removal | response due 14-Sep-20 |
| Hobbs v. United States | 6th Cir. | 13-Aug-20 | Guilty plea under 922(g) without knowledge of disqualifying status | response due 16-Sep-20 |