In a new letter brief, the US government argues that “illegal immigrants” do not have Second Amendment rights.
A “directive to address the implications of the Supreme Court’s judgment in United States v. Rahimi (2024)” prompted the submission of the additional letter brief.
According to Breitbart News, on June 21, 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the federal ban on gun ownership for those subject to domestic violence-based restraining orders with an 8-1 ruling in the Rahimi case.
CNN reported Chief Justice John Roberts said he and seven other justices had “no issue” reaching a consensus on Rahimi’s ruling.
“Our heritage of firearm control permits the government to disarm persons who constitute a real threat to the physical safety of others,” Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, stated.
The United States Government argues in the July 31, 2024, supplementary letter brief filed by the DOJ that the laws pertaining to “illegal aliens” and weapons, found in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A), are still constitutional.
“Rahimi did not compromise the previous ruling by this Court that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A) is constitutional under the 2nd Amendment.” View Portillo-Munoz. In Portillo-Munoz, this Court held that the Second Amendment’s protections do not apply to foreigners who are in the country illegally. “The people” protected by the 2nd Amendment, according to this Court, “refers to a class of people who are members of a community or who have otherwise acquired sufficient relationship with this country to be regarded as part of that community.”
The US government made the following observation:
“In light of Heller, the Court found that the defendant’s effort to apply the Second Amendment’s protections to undocumented immigrants who are neither citizens nor members of the political community was unconstitutional. 440 in Portillo-Munoz, 643 F.3d. The Court declared that aliens who enter or stay in this country illegally and without authority are not considered Americans as commonly understood. This Court did, in fact, observe that “the Supreme Court has long recognized that Congress has the jurisdiction to create laws affecting aliens’ conduct that would be unlawful if forced to apply to Americans.”
The U.S. government made the following observation about “illegal immigrants” and guns: “Nothing in Rahimi weakens this Court’s reasoning.” However, the Supreme Court in Rahimi reiterated the earlier rulings, stating that the Second Amendment protects “ordinary citizens”.
