Appeals court keep Illinois' gun ban in place as case proceeds

[December 06, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois’ gun and magazine ban will stay in effect pending the outcome in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the appeals court ruled Thursday.

Illinois banned the sale and possession of more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities in January 2023. Lawsuits in federal court followed, challenging the ban based on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and other grounds.

Four cases in the Southern District of Illinois were consolidated into Barnett, et al. v. Raoul, et al.

After preliminary issues went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas said the case was not ripe because it was not on final judgement. The Southern District of Illinois consequently found the law unconstitutional. Judge Stephen McGlynn issued an injunction against the law last month but put a 30 day hold on his order. That stay would have lifted Dec. 9.

The state appealed to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asking for a continued stay. The appeals court ruled Thursday McGlynn’s injunction will be held and the state’s gun ban will “remain in force until this court issued its mandate.”

“At least two other essentially identical suits are pending in other district courts within the Seventh Circuit,” the three judge panel said Thursday. “ This does not necessarily imply that the three cases will again be consolidated on appeal; we are reluctant to delay disposition of this appeal indefinitely just because similar litigation is pending in other districts. Still, the only way to preserve the status quo statewide is to enter a stay in this suit.”

Multiple pages of an exhibit in the state's response to a legal challenge of Illinois' gun ban
Greg Bishop / The Center Square

Earlier on the docket, the appeals court said the district judge’s ruling was deficient and had the state and plaintiffs file briefs on whether to send the case back to the district court for clarity.

“Appellate jurisdiction exists, notwithstanding these errors, because it is plain that the district court is done with the case,” the three judge panel said Thursday, “and we trust that the district court will enter appropriate orders promptly without the need for a formal command by this court.”

The three judge panel of Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, Circuit Judge Michael Brennan and Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve issued Thursday’s opinion.

“Every other court of appeals that has addressed the validity of similar legislation in the wake of New York State Rifle Association v. Bruen ... has come out the same way …,” the panel said. “The laws addressed by those decisions differ in some respects from the Illinois statute. Yet the absence of support in other circuits for the district court’s disposition lends strength to a conclusion that the Illinois statutes should remain in force until final appellate resolution.”

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