Supreme Court Upholds Law Barring Possession of Guns Under Domestic Violence Protective Orders Following Freshfields amicus brief

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June 21 2024

Supreme Court Upholds Law Barring Possession of Guns Under Domestic Violence Protective Orders Following Freshfields amicus brief

The Supreme Court upheld a federal law that prohibits an individual subject to a domestic violence protective order from possessing a gun. In August 2023, a team of Freshfields attorneys filed an amicus brief in the case, United States v. Rahimi, on behalf of several domestic violence advocates, educators, and organizations.

In the Freshfields brief, Amici argued that the law is constitutional because it disarms a select group of dangerous individuals only after a series of procedural safeguards have been satisfied, and that the law is vitally important in protecting domestic violence victims from further serious and often lethal danger. This argument fit squarely within the Supreme Court's June 21, 2024 decision that holds that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) does not violate the Second Amendment as the law is "relevantly similar" to founding-era gun laws that "included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms."

Amici Curiae* encompassed 15 friends of the Court, led by Bonnie Carlson, Assistant Professor of Law and Founder and Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at Mercer University School of Law, and the organizations Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc. and Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia, Inc.

Professor Carlson stated: "As Chief Justice Roberts and the Court recognized in today's decision, it is common sense that Congress has the power to temporarily disarm a person who a court has found poses a threat to the safety of another. We are gratified that the Court found 18 USC 922(g)(8) to fit well within the nation's centuries-old tradition of disarming people who pose a threat of harm. Today's ruling will protect countless victims of intimate partner violence from continued, potentially fatal abuse."

The team of lawyers who drafted the brief includes counsel Jennifer Loeb and associate Andrew Henderson in Washington, DC, and senior counsel Aaron Marcu and associates Aedan Collins, Brandt Henslee, Daniel Hodgkinson, Taylor Jachman, and Matthew Rublin in New York. Washington, DC partner Eric Bruce has also been involved in Freshfields' gun violence prevention advocacy.

*Amici Curiae (The views expressed in the brief do not necessarily reflect the views of the institutions with which Amici are or have been affiliated.):

1. Bonnie Carlson, Assistant Professor of Law and Founder and Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at Mercer University School of Law

2. Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc., a non-profit law firm that offers free legal services to low-income individuals across metro Atlanta.

3. Andrew Budzinski, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the General Practice Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.

4. Sacha M. Coupet, Professor of Law at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

5. Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia, Inc., a non-profit agency serving family violence, sexual assault, and stalking victims and their children in Central Georgia.

6. Hon. Sherrill A. Ellsworth, Ret., Past Presiding Judge for the Superior Court of California, Riverside, and judicial consultant to government and non-profit organizations.

7. Deborah Epstein, Co-Director of the Georgetown University Law Center's Domestic Violence Clinic.

8. Tianna Gibbs, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the General Practice Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.

9. Julie Goldscheid, Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law.

10. Zelda B. Harris, Dean of the Western New England University School of Law and Professor of Law.

11. Catherine Priebe, Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic Fellow at the University of Georgia School of Law.

12. Christine Scartz, Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law.

13. Charisa Smith, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Family Law Practice Clinic at the City University of New York School of Law.

14. Jane Stoever, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at the University of California Irvine School of Law, and Director of the UCI Initiative to End Family Violence.

15. Julia F. Weber, Esq., MSW, Consultant for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Adjunct Professor at the Golden Gate University School of Law.

About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

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