Cert Petition Highlight: Flick v. Rosen

In addition to the several other Second Amendment challenges recently filed at the Supreme Court, a new one was filed in the last days of 2020 and just docketed earlier this week: Flick v. Rosen. Like a couple of the other petitions, Flick involves an as-applied challenge to the felon prohibitor. But unlike at least one of the others, this conviction is a federal one, meaning that the Kenneth Flick has no possibility of getting his firearm rights restored outside a presidential pardon. (While that avenue used to be considered effectively closed for those seeking gun-rights restoration, President Trump just recently pardoned Ricky Kanter, whose Second Amendment challenge then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett voted to uphold.)

Flick's conviction involved a criminal copyright violation about 30 years ago. As I've written previously about the case, the Eleventh Circuit's approach to his case all but shut the door on as-applied challenges. Thus, even though the state of Georgia, where Flick resides, has restored his civil rights, including gun rights, the federal conviction still stands as a bar to Flick's lawful possession of a gun. In the next few months, we should have a pretty good idea of whether or not the Supreme Court--which so far has seemed particularly uninterested in prohibited person cases--will take up and decide whether the federal prohibitors are open to as-applied challenges.