What Is Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee Merrick Garland’s Record On Guns?
OutdoorHub Social 03.16.16
Merrick Garland is currently the Chief Judge of the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals. According to some organizations like the Judicial Crisis Network, Garland is considered “left-leaning on gun control.” This opinion comes from two cases which he presided over involving the Second Amendment.
One of these cases happened in 2007 when he voted to review a restrictive gun law in the District of Columbia that had previously been shot down. The law, which was eventually found unconstitutional by in the Supreme Court in the District of Columbia v. Heller decision, required guns to be kept unloaded and disassembled, unless they were being used for legal recreational activities. Previously a U.S. District Court ruled against the ban in favor of Heller and the D.C. Circuit upheld that ruling. Garland then voted on behalf of the court for the D.C. Circuit to reconsider their own previous ruling. Ultimately Garland’s decision was not a ruling against gun rights, but it still raises some eyebrows.
One clear sign that Garland may be anti-gun came from his NRA v. Reno ruling. In the Reno case the NRA argued that since the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for gun purchases temporarily retained data of gun owners, it violated federal law prohibiting the creation of a of gun owner registry. Garland was one of the two judges (out of the panel of three) that ruled against the NRA. The majority opinion read:
“Finding nothing in the Brady Act that unambiguously prohibits temporary retention of information about lawful transactions, and finding that the Attorney General has reasonably interpreted the Act to permit retention of such information for audit purposes, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of the complaint.”
Ultimately this may matter very little as Republicans has vowed to block any nomination Obama attempts to make. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican and a member of the Judiciary Committee, had this to say after the nomination announcement:
“In light of the contentious presidential election already well underway, my colleagues and I on the Judiciary Committee have already given our advice and consent on this issue: we will not have any hearings or votes on President Obama’s pick,” Mr. Lee said. “Any meeting with any nominee put forward by President Obama would only be a waste of the Senate’s time. The Court has very ably dealt with temporary absences in the past and will do so again now.”
Below you can click through a history of Merrick Garland’s judicial record and education.
