Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

This Little-Known Meeting Could Rapidly Expand Supreme Court’s 2A Docket

Wikimedia Commons/Joe Ravi

A meeting involving all nine justices of the Supreme Court could expand the court’s Second Amendment docket significantly.

The Supreme Court’s “long conference,” a lengthy meeting where justices address as many as 2,000 requests to hear cases, including several touching on Second Amendment issues, will take place Monday. Among the potential Second Amendment cases are several that feature “circuit splits,” where federal appeals courts disagree on rulings, making it more likely the Supreme Court will hear the case. 

The Supreme Court agreed to hear Viramontes v. Cook County on June 30, and announced on Sept. 4 that oral arguments would take place on Dec. 2, taking up a challenge to a ban on modern semiautomatic firearms passed by the Illinois locality days after issuing rulings on two Second Amendment cases. However, several cases have resulted in split decisions from federal appellate courts.

The justices debated taking up Duncan v. Bonta, a challenge to California’s ban on magazines holding more than ten rounds, for 23 conferences—a record—and the case will likely be debated again on Monday. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled New Jersey’s similar magazine ban unconstitutional in an “en banc” (heard by all judges on the court) decision in Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. v. Attorney General of New Jersey that struck down the state’s ban on modern semiautomatic firearms.

Another case the justices could discuss is Beckwith v. Frey, a case challenging the constitutionality of Maine’s three-day waiting period on firearms purchases. While the waiting period was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit struck down a waiting period on firearms purchases in August 2025 while overruling a decision in favor of New Mexico by Senior United States District Judge James O. Browning, a George W. Bush appointee.

The justices were petitioned to hear a case challenging New York City’s ban on stun guns, when the Second Amendment Foundation petitioned the Supreme Court in July, accusing a federal appeals court of flouting a decade-old ruling by the high court. The Supreme Court ruled in Caetano v. Massachusetts that a ban on stun guns was unconstitutional on Second Amendment grounds in a unanimous per curiam (unsigned) ruling released on March 21, 2016.

Recognition of concealed carry permits is another potential issue for the Supreme Court, with the Liberty Justice Center arguing in its petition filed Aug. 24 that the state’s refusal to recognize out-of-state permits held by truck driver Jeffrey A. Johnson Sr. was a violation of his Second Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court will release an order list on Oct. 5, listing which cases it will accept and which cases it will decline.