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Southern District of Illinois Judge Stephen McGlynn found the
law unconstitutional last year on final judgement. Monday, the
Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral arguments.
Judge Michael Brennan praised McGlynn’s opinion’s thoroughness
“I think this is the first time we've had a full trial record of
any federal appellate court in the country, set a full trial
record,” Brennan said. “Isn't that an uphill battle for the
state to overcome those findings?”
Brennan sided with plaintiffs when the case was in front of the
appeals court in 2023.
Judge Frank Easterbrook, who joined now retired Judge Diane Wood
in siding with the state on preliminary grounds last year, said
the district court didn’t address the rate of fire and capacity
of magazines as the appeals court had directed.
“I really worry about the blah blah blah, etc. etc. given that
the district court didn't make findings on several of the things
we told it, it needed to,” Easterbrook said Monday.
The state, working to defend the law, said there are
unprecedented societal concerns of mass shootings. Brennan
questioned that.
“If it's a mass shooting circumstance, I'm not sure. We can't be
myopic in our history with regard to when these, these, mass
shootings occurred,” Brennan said. “It's not just recent. It's
going back.”
Judge Amy St Eve asked challenging questions of both plaintiffs
and defendants.
Speaking for plaintiffs challenging the law, Assistant U.S.
Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said Illinois’ law is at odds
with the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The United States has a strong interest in ensuring that the
Second Amendment is not relegated to a second class right, and
that all the law-abiding citizens of the circuit remain able to
enjoy the full exercise of their Second Amendment rights,”
Dhillon said.
It’s unclear when the appeals panel would rule on the case.
Either way the three-judge panel goes, the case is expected to
go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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