The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a request from a group of firearms dealers in New York seeking to halt portions of the state’s new laws regulating commercial gun sales.
The high court denied the request for an injunction filed on behalf of licensed firearms dealers who sought the justices’ intervention, pleading that they were struggling to “keep their doors open, while fighting to restore their civil rights through this lawsuit.”
The request was denied in a one-line order just days after the court similarly refused a request to block an appeals court ruling that allowed New York‘s Concealed Carry Improvement Act to stay in place — for now. There were no noted dissents over Wednesday’s decision.
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New York’s new gun regulations have faced significant legal challenges after being quickly drafted in response to the Supreme Court overturning its previous concealed carry law last summer, saying its requirement for applicants to show a proper cause was unconstitutional.
The firearms dealers cited Justice Clarence Thomas’s 6-3 opinion in their pursuit to block several provisions of the CCIA. The plaintiffs wanted to reverse a lower court’s refusal to temporarily pause enforcement of new licensing requirements and record-keeping rules, among other components of the law, arguing they were either in conflict with the Constitution or federal law.
Last month, a federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama denied the dealers’ request to immediately pause enforcement of the regulations as the case played out, and later a panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit denied the group’s request.
The dealers said they had been “fighting in courts for nearly two straight months to try to find a judge” to achieve injunctive relief and have not been in compliance with the law since Dec. 5, putting the future of their storefronts in legal jeopardy.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Solicitor General Barbara Underwood told the justices to deny the request, as the litigation involves laws surrounding the commercial sale of guns, most of which were enacted before the high court’s June decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the pair told the court in a filing.
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In the high court’s previous Jan. 11 rejection of a request to overturn an appeals court order that kept the state’s CCIA law in place, the two most conservative justices on the court, Thomas and Samuel Alito, joined in a separate statement that the court’s denial was not “expressing any view on the merits of the case.”
Their letter noted that it would respect the procedures of the 2nd Circuit but underscored the New York law “presents novel and serious questions under both the First and the Second Amendments.”
