SCOTUS Gun Watch – Week of 11/23/20

On Friday, the Supreme Court granted cert in Caniglia. The question presented is disarmingly simple: “Whether the ‘community caretaking’ exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.” But the facts on which the legal question is based are more complicated. And a handgun lies at the center of those facts. Indeed, in the First Circuit (where retired Justice Souter was sitting by designation), the petitioner raised a Second Amendment claim as well as a Fourth Amendment one, arguing that the gun seizure violated his right to keep and bear arms. Because the nature of the case revolves around firearms, we’ll be writing more about the case in the weeks ahead.

Other than Caniglia, no big news out of the Supreme Court yet on Second Amendment challenges. The most direct challenge currently teed up— the Torres case—is still a few weeks away from being discussed at conference.