The Supreme Court hears arguments in a case over a gun law that protects domestic violence victims

The United States Supreme Court is currently deliberating on a case that challenges a federal law aimed at safeguarding domestic violence victims. The law in question prohibits individuals from possessing firearms if they are under a court-issued order to maintain a distance from their spouse, partner, or other family members due to domestic violence concerns. On Tuesday, the justices commenced hearings on this matter, marking their first engagement with gun-related issues since the pivotal decision of the previous year, which cast doubt on numerous gun control statutes.

Following the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision in June 2022, the federal appeals court in New Orleans invalidated this law, originally designed to protect victims of domestic violence. The Bruen ruling not only expanded the constitutional rights of Americans concerning firearms but also altered the criteria by which courts evaluate gun regulations. In his opinion for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas discarded the long-standing balancing test that judges had traditionally employed to assess the constitutionality of gun laws. Instead, judges are now instructed to consider whether a law aligns with the nation’s historical approach to gun regulation, as outlined by Thomas.

The repercussions of the Bruen decision have led to the invalidation of over a dozen laws by lower courts. These invalidated laws encompassed age restrictions, bans on homemade “ghost guns,” and prohibitions on gun ownership for individuals convicted of nonviolent felonies or those who used illegal drugs.

The outcome of this new case could have far-reaching consequences, potentially affecting high-profile prosecutions such as that of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden, the son of the President, faces charges related to purchasing a firearm while struggling with substance addiction. However, his legal team intends to challenge the indictment’s validity based on the Bruen decision.

The pivotal votes in this case may hinge on Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Both were part of the six-justice conservative majority in the Bruen case, but Kavanaugh, joined by Roberts, emphasized that not all gun restrictions are inherently unconstitutional.

The current case revolves around Zackey Rahimi, a resident of Fort Worth, Texas. Rahimi was involved in an altercation with his girlfriend in a parking lot in December 2019, during which he struck her and fired a gun at a witness, as documented in court records. Subsequently, Rahimi threatened to shoot his girlfriend if she disclosed the assault, prompting her to obtain a protective order against him in Tarrant County in February 2020.

Eleven months later, Rahimi came under suspicion for additional shootings, leading to a search of his apartment where firearms were discovered. He later pleaded guilty to violating federal law, but the appeals court overturned his conviction when it struck down the law in question. The Supreme Court has now agreed to hear the Biden administration’s appeal in this matter.

Rahimi remains incarcerated in Texas, facing additional criminal charges. In a letter penned from jail last summer, after the Supreme Court agreed to take up his case, Rahimi pledged to abstain from any involvement with firearms or weapons upon his release. This commitment was initially reported by The New York Times.

Disturbingly, statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that firearms were used in 57% of homicides involving spouses, intimate partners, children, or relatives in 2020. Furthermore, Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group, reports that an average of seventy women per month are shot and killed by their intimate partners.

A verdict in the case of U.S. v. Rahimi, docket number 22-915, is anticipated by early summer.

This report includes contributions from Lindsay Whitehurst, a writer at Big Big News.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Gun Law Challenge

More about Gun Law Challenge

• Supreme Court
• Bruen decision
• Gun control laws
• Hunter Biden prosecution
• Domestic violence statistics
• Everytown for Gun Safety
• U.S. v. Rahimi