Texas man urges Supreme Court to stay out of major Second Amendment case

A lawyer for a Texas man urged the Supreme Court late Tuesday to let stand a lower court opinion that critics say will make it easier for domestic abusers to obtain firearms.

The man, Zackey Rahimi, is at the center of the latest Second Amendment case to reach the high court. A federal appeals court ruled in Rahimi's favor in March. The court held that a federal law that bars an individual subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm is unconstitutional.

Now, the Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to reverse that decision and clarify the reach of a major Second Amendment opinion from last term that marked the most significant expansion of gun rights in a decade.

In court papers filed in March, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices they should take up the Rahimi case next term and reverse the appeals court decision that "threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence."

The justices are expected to meet behind closed doors in the coming weeks to discuss the case and decide whether to step in and hear the appeal.

After the justices issued New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen a year ago, lower courts began to reconsider thousands of firearm rules across the country, including the federal law at issue in the case at hand. A panel of judges on the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals cited Bruen and held that the statute "is an outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted."

On Tuesday, Rahimi's lawyer, J. Matthew Wright, responded to the Biden administration's appeal.