Court declines to hear challenge to Maryland
ban on rifles known as assault weapons
By Lindsay Whitehurst
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday declined, for now, to hear a challenge to a Maryland law banning certain semi-automatic firearms commonly referred to as assault weapons.
The court did not elaborate on the denial, as is typical. It would have been unusual for the justices to take up a case at this point, since a lower court is still weighing it. The Supreme Court is also considering an appeal over a similar law in Illinois. It did not act Monday on that case, which could be another avenue to take up the issue.
The Maryland plaintiffs, including gun rights groups, argued that semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 are among the most popular firearms in the country and banning them runs afoul of the Second Amendment, especially after a landmark Supreme Court decision expanding gun rights in 2022. That ruling changed the test for evaluating whether gun laws are constitutional and has upended gun laws around the country.
Maryland's attorney general pointed to mass shootings carried out using the weapons. The state argued they can be banned because they are "highly dangerous, military-style" weapons.
The law has a history before the Supreme Court: The justices declined to hear another challenge in 2017, before the solidification of its current conservative majority. Five years later, though, the high court's current roster of justices ordered lower courts to take another look at the measure after handing down the 2022 ruling.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is still weighing the case, and Maryland argued the lower court should be able to issue a decision before an potential Supreme Court action. The plaintiffs, though, said the appeals court has taken too long, including an unusual move removing it from a three-judge panel and instead putting the case before the full circuit court.
Maryland passed the sweeping gun-control measure after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that killed 20 children and six adults in Connecticut in 2012. It bans dozens of firearms commonly known as assault weapons and puts a 10-round limit on gun magazines.
Ten states and the District of Columbia now have laws often called assault weapons bans, according to the gun-control group Brady, which tracks the legislation.
Appeal from a Canadian man once
held at Guantanamo rejected
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian-born former Guantanamo detainee who was seeking to wipe away his war crimes convictions, including for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
Omar Khadr had waived his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that included murder. But his lawyers argued that a subsequent ruling by the federal appeals court in Washington called into question whether Khadr could have been charged with the crimes in the first place.
A divided three-judge panel ruled that, despite the appellate ruling, Khadr gave up his right to appeal.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson did not take part in the Supreme Court's consideration of Khadr's appeal because both had dealt with the case while they served as appeals court judges. Jackson explained her recusal from Monday's order; Kavanaugh did not.
Khadr had been sentenced to eight years in prison plus the time he already had spent in custody, including several years at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But he was released in May 2015 pending his appeal of the guilty plea.
A Canadian judge ruled in 2019 that his war crimes sentence had expired.
Khadr was 15 when he was captured by U.S. troops following a firefight at a suspected al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of an American special forces medic, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer. Khadr, who was suspected of throwing the grenade that killed Speer, was taken to Guantanamo and ultimately charged with war crimes by a military commission.
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