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.
