Today, the Supreme Court issued the “clean-up” order list. The Court GVR’d eight cases in light of Rahimi. One of them was Garland v. Range. Here, the en banc Third Circuit held that a person who committed a non-violent felony (food stamp fraud) could not be subject to a complete ban on owning a firearm. Justice Barrett brought the case up during the Rahimi oral argument. I suspected that the Court was holding Range pending Rahimi. After Rahimi was decided, the SG urged the Court to grant Range. Counsel for Range urged the Court to grant the writ. I thought the Court might sit on the issue for the summer, and figure out what to do at the long conference. No such luck. The Court, without any noted dissent, GVR’d Range.
Now, Range, other cases, and the Second Amendment, return to inferior court purgatory. And I should note that since Range was decided, the composition of the Third Circuit has changed. President Biden will have “flipped” two seats, changing the balance of the en banc court. We’ll see if there are four votes for cert when this case comes back.
Bruen had a good two-year run! Alas, Rahimi placed a blue light special on the Second Amendment.
Update: I wrote that the SG recommended a GVR in Range. In fact, the government recommended a grant. I’ve updated the post.
