Published July 22, 2026 at 10:42 AM ET · Updated July 22, 2026 at 12:32 PM ET
Clarence Thomas argument against federal gun law gets first major court test
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A legal argument previously raised by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas against a federal gun law is receiving its first major court test. The case centers on a federal firearms restriction.
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⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Bruen held that when the Second Amendment's plain text covers conduct, the government must justify its regulation by demonstrating consistency with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Rahimi then applied that test, upholding a federal ban on possession by persons subject to a domestic-violence restraining order because the government grounded it in the tradition of surety laws and going armed laws.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
United States v. Zackey Rahimi 602 U.S. 680 (2024)
Vote: 8-1 · Opinion: Roberts (C.J.)
When an individual has been found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another, that individual may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment. 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8), which bars firearm possession by persons subject to a domestic-violence restraining order containing such a judicial finding, is facially constitutional. The Court grounded the statute in the combined tradition of surety laws and 'going armed' laws, which permitted preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
