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Seegers v. Gonzales cert denial
The Supreme Court has denied cert. (declined to take the case) of Seegers v. Gonzales. That was one of two challenges to the DC handgun ban, and the DC Circuit upheld a dismissal for lack of standing (i.e., no right to sue to challenge a statute, absent prosecution under it).
The other challenge, Parker v. DC, remains pending in the DC Circuit.
[Update: Alan Gura, counsel for the Parker plaintiffs, writes:
We're currently awaiting a scheduling order in Parker. Recall that we made a much better record on standing.
The appellees' attempts to dismiss the Parker appeal on standing grounds was denied by the D.C. Circuit in November. While standing remains an issue in the case, the court has also sought briefing on the merits.
Stay tuned.]
Comments
I'm no lawyer, but it seems a bid ridiculous to me to require someone to actually be under threat of encarceration under a statute before being able to challenge it.
Common sense dictates to me that I should be able to challenge an unconstitutional or otherwise illegal law while still remaining a law abiding citizen. Basically what they are saying is: Become a criminal and then take your chances. If you bet wrong on how the court will see things (no sure bet in recent times), you are criminalized and you go to jail.
Then again, no one has ever mistaken the Legal system as anything approaching common-sensical (is that a word? If not, it should be, I like it).
Posted by: Curtis Stone at January 26, 2006 09:10 AM