This morning, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that struck down Gov. Pritzker’s new “assault weapons” ban. In a 4-3 ruling, the state’s high court vacated a Macon County ruling and entered a judgement in favor of the state.
Interestingly, three of the four defendants in the case donated over $1.5 million to two of the justices who voted to overturn the lower court ruling, clearing the way for the gun ban. That includes Justice Elizabeth Rochford who authored the majority opinion.
Holy crap Illinois Supreme Court justice Elizabeth Rochford (@JudgeRochford) who is under fire for not recusing from the hi-profile gun ban case in which her donors are defendants (and was endorsed by GC groups), has deleted her Twitter account. Don’t worry, we got screenshots pic.twitter.com/rpMNNod7yZ
— President Non_Fudd (@Non_Fudd) August 11, 2023
It’s worth noting that this particular lawsuit challenged the law on equal protection grounds, not the Second Amendment. For instance, the gun and “high capacity” magazine ban law exempts locksmiths, prison wardens, and the Paul Blarts of the world from its provisions, treating them differently than ordinary Land of Linclon residents.
From the decision . . .
First, we hold that the exemptions neither deny equal protection nor constitute
special legislation because plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that they are
similarly situated to and treated differently from the exempt classes. Second,
plaintiffs expressly waived in the circuit court any independent claim that the
restrictions impermissibly infringe the second amendment. Third, plaintiffs’ failure
to cross-appeal is a jurisdictional bar to renewing their three-readings claim.
Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court and enter judgment for defendants on the
equal protection and special legislation claims…
Ahead of the ruling, state Rep. Dan Caulkins, a named plaintiff in the suit, appeared on a Springfield radio program and noted the glaring conflict of interest presented by two of the supreme court judges getting over 20% of their campaign budgets from Gov. Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Chris Welch, all of whom were instrumental in getting the ban passed.
Rep. Caulkins has indicated that he may pursue a challenge under the US Supreme Court’s Caperton ruling to the court’s ruling as the two tainted justices didn’t recuse themselves from the case. In short, Caperton demands that judges cannot preside over cases involving the financial interests of campaign donors.
Whether or not Rep. Caulkins can prove that the two justices were tainted under the Caperton ruling, and as such should have recused themselves, remains to be seen.
While the Gun Control Industry is no doubt celebrating, that’s probably premature.
You left out the part about them not ruling on whether the law violates the #2A. That issue is squarely in front of the 7th Circuit US Ct of Appeals where IL appealed the preliminary injunction @NSSF obtained https://t.co/hSJOrsnsx3
— Larry Keane (@lkeane) August 11, 2023
The Second Amendment Foundation wants everyone to know that the law is also being challenged in federal court on Second Amendment infringement grounds. They issued this announcement this afternoon . . .
Friday morning’s narrow ruling by the Illinois State Supreme Court, upholding the state ban on so-called “assault weapons,” does not affect the ongoing federal challenge of the ban by the Second Amendment Foundation.
“While we are disappointed in the state court’s narrow 4-3 decision,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “our federal case remains very much alive and we will continue fighting the Illinois ban.”
SAF is joined in the case, known as Harrel v. Raoul, by the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Marengo Guns, the C4 Gun Store and Dane Harrel, for whom the case is known. Gottlieb noted the court consists of five Democrat justices and two Republicans. The majority opinion was delivered by J, whose appearance last October as a speaker at an event for the Illinois Moms Demand Action gun control group caused a stir on social media.
One Democrat, Justice Mary K. O’Brien, dissented, noting, “When we limit people’s rights, even the rights we might not like, we have to do so in a way that honors the constitution.”
“We are still studying the Illinois high court’s ruling,” Gottlieb said, “but we are confident our case will fare better in the federal court system.”
“It is always unfortunate when a Court fails to uphold constitutional rights,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Fortunately for the people of Illinois, our challenge to the state’s ban on so-called ‘assault weapons’ remains pending in federal court. We look forward to vindicating the rights of the People of Illinois.”
SAF and its partners filed the federal challenge earlier this year in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. They are represented by attorney David Sigale of Wheaton.
SAF filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in this case on Jan. 25.
