Landmark Supreme Court 2nd Amendment Ruling Released

Today, the United States Supreme Court released its decision on a landmark Second Amendment case that has been a long time coming.  The Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms applies to state and local governments.  Two years ago, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Second Amendment applies to federal law.  Today, that principle was extended to the states.  However, it is unclear what the practical effect of this decision will be.  The Supreme Court did not rule upon the constitutionality of any law or ordinance.  Rather, it left the question of what is constitutionally permissible for the lower courts to decide.  The case involved the gun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois.  It is now for the lower courts to reconcile the gun bans with the decision.  A majority of the justices agreed that this decision may lead to extensive and expensive litigation but that this was necessary.  There is little doubt in the opinion that Chicago's gun ban will not stand.   Chicago's gun ban is a blanket ban on any type of gun.  But "reasonable restrictions" will be allowed according to this decision.  What will be considered a "reasonable restriction" is something that will be litigated throughout the courts of this country.  

The practical effect of this ruling is that traditional gun control legislation, like Chicago's blanket ban on handguns, will no longer be the law of the land.  Instead, cities like Chicago, will have to try to come up with legislation that will be more reasonable and ban specific types of guns or require registration or reporting of the ownership of guns.  Gun control opponents will now file lawsuits challenging all the gun control legislation they can find and force the courts to apply this new constitutional scrutiny to gun control legislation.

The case is McDonald v. Chicago, No. 08-1521.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Over 4,000 Guns Removed From Streets This Weekend

The Chicago police are reporting that their program to reward the turning in of a weapon in exchange for a gift card was a tremendous success.  In exchange for turning in a weapon, with no questions asked, people were given a gift card for up to $100 depending on the type of weapon turned in.  St. Sabina Church, on the  South Side, gave an extra $50 for an assault weapon.  Chicago police report that a total of $4,050 weapons were turned in on Saturday.  55 were assault weapons, 3,335 were handguns, and 660 were toy guns and fake guns.  Even 2 hand grenades were turned in.  Some of the weapons turned in could pierce bulletproof vests.  The program is now in its 6th year and has been credited for removing thousands of weapons from the street. 

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295,

Supreme Court Seems Ready To Strike Down Chicago's Gun Law

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on McDonald v. Chicago, the challenge to Chicago's gun law.  The media has reported extensively on the oral arguments and I have been reading the analysis of the arguments and the likely outcome.  The general consensus is that the ruling in Heller is going to be applied nationally and Chicago's ban on handguns is going to be struck down.  From the questions of the justices and their comments, there is no doubt that the court is leaning in that direction.  But from a legal standpoint, the question is what legal basis will the court rely on to apply the Second Amendment to the states?  The National Rifle Association favors the application of the 14th Amendment, the Due Process Clause, as the way to apply the Second Amendment to the states.  The 14th Amendment provides that "no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law."  It's the principle by which the Supreme Court has previously found that a woman has a right to abortion or struck down state laws that did not allow gay sex or banned interracial marriage.  The response from the justices suggests that this is the approach that is most likely to be adopted.  The attorney representing McDonald, Alan Gura, who also represented Heller in the earlier case, argued for another part of the 14th Amendment, the privileges and immunities clause.  This provision forbids any state from making or enforcing any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.  This is really an untested argument and Gura received some serious questioning from the justices when he made the argument.  Justice Scalia even went so far as to ask Gura why he was asking the court to override 140 years of precedent unless Gura was trying to get a job teaching for a law school.

A decision is expected by the end of June.  However, all signs are pointing to a big victory for gun advocates.  But the victory may not be as big as advocates had hoped.  The justices signaled that they will ok reasonable restrictions and that this ruling will only apply to keeping a gun in the house.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Highlights Of Important Supreme Court Cases For Fall Term

This week, the United States Supreme Court announced which cases it will be considering in the upcoming Fall Term. In the backdrop of this announcement is the fact that a new Justice, Judge Sotomayor, will be taking her seat, and speculation that Justice John Paul Stevens could be retiring at any time. We first posted a post discussing the speculation surrounding his retirement on September 2, 2009. To read that post click here. The addition of Sotomayor is not expected to change the philosophical balance on the court. But the expectations for this term surround the cases that the Supreme Court has agreed to decide. Below you will find a brief synopsis of the interesting cases the Supreme Court has agreed to consider.

Guns and the Second Amendment: This case promises to get the greatest attention. On Wednesday the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving a challenge to Chicago's ban on handguns. Last year the Supreme Court overturned Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns. Chicago has a similar ban and is arguing that the decision overturning the Washington D.C. ban on handguns does not apply to state and local governments because Washington D.C. is governed by federal law. The Court of Appeals agreed with Chicago and the Supreme Court will now take up the issue. How the Supreme Court decides this case will have a tremendous impact on handgun bans throughout the country.

The case is McDonald v. Chicago, 08-0521.

Right to a Lawyer, Miranda Related Decision: How long is a suspects request for a lawyer valid? In 2003, Michael Shatzer was questioned for the sexual abuse of a boy. The case was dropped after Shatzer demanded an attorney. Three years later, after the boy was older and able to recount more details to a new detective assigned to the case, he was questioned and confessed to the crime. He was convicted by the trial court but the Maryland Court of Appeals overturned the conviction because he had requested an attorney in 2003. The United States Supreme Court will decide how long the request for a lawyer will last.

The case is Maryland v. Shatzer, 08-680.

Life without Parole for Juveniles: The court will decide whether a sentence for life without the possibility of parole violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The case comes out of Florida where 2 juveniles, 13 and 17 years old, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Neither juvenile was convicted of a crime involving murder. We first posted a post about this case on May 10, 2009. Click here to read that post. On May 16, 2009 we posted another blog about a decision out of California holding that sentencing juveniles to life in prison was unconstitutional. To read that post click here.

We will update our readers on any other cases which may be added to the docket along the way.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Seven Guns Stolen From Mississippi Police Found In Chicago

The Federal government has announced that seven guns stolen from a Mississippi police department have been found in Chicago. Between 2005 and 2006, 11 handguns and five machine guns were stolen from the Greenwood Mississippi police department by prison inmates in a community work program. 9 people were charged in the case and all but one plead guilty. The trial of the last defendant is scheduled to start on Monday. The news that the guns were found in Chicago was released by prosecutors in that case. The final defendant is not charged with the machine guns. The documents released by the prosecutors do not include information about the machine guns.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense lawyers at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

NRA Appeals Chicago Gun Ban Decision to Supreme Court

On July 2, 2009, we published a blog about the Court of Appeals upholding the City of Chicago and Village of Oak Park ban on handguns. The lawsuit challenging the gun ban by these cities was filed by the National Rifle Association one day after the Supreme Court's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the District of Columbia's handgun ban was struck down. Chicago and Oak Park's handgun ban is substantially similar to the District of Columbia's ban. In declining to apply the ruling in Heller to the Chicago and Oak Park ban, the Court of Appeals found that the Supreme Court's decision in Heller did not apply to states and municipalities. The NRA has already filed an appeal of this decision with the United States Supreme Court setting up what promises to be another big fight over the Second Amendment. Any decision will not be released before September of this year.

The case is National Rifle Association v. Chicago, 08,1497.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C. visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Appellate Court Upholds Chicago Handgun Ban

In a surprising decision, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Chicago's ordinance banning handguns and automatic weapons within city limits. Chicago's ban had been challenged by the National Rifle Association. The NRA sued Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois, one day after the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which struck down a handgun ban in Washington, D.C. The handgun ban struck down in Heller was substantially the same as Chicago's ban. The court upheld Chicago's ban by reasoning that the Heller decision did not apply to states and municipalities. The Appellate Court differentiated the Heller case from Chicago's ban by stating that "Heller dealt with a law enacted under the authority of the national government, while Chicago and Oak Park are subordinate bodies of a state." The NRA's lawsuit was initially dismissed by the trial court on December 4, 2008 by following a 1982 appeals court ruling upholding a ban on handguns by the Village of Morton Grove. The ruling in this case was released only one week after oral arguments were held. The NRA has vowed to appeal this to the United States Supreme Court.

The case is National Rifle Association of America v. City of Chicago, 08-4241.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.