On Friday, the Parishes of Orleans and St. Tammany entered into a Consent Decree in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The decree was the result of a lawsuit brought under section 1983 and under the Declaratory Judgement Act by the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation. After the judge informed the defendants that he would very likely order a preliminary judgement against them, the defendants agreed to a consent decree. In the decree, the defendants assert that there was never an official government policy of confiscating guns, and admit that they never confiscated guns in accordance with Louisiana’s emergency powers statute. The parties agreed to accept the the court’s injunction (an injunction which is empowered only by section 1983, since an injunction is not a declaratory judgement) which:
1. Forbids them from confiscating guns.
2. Orders them to return all guns which have been confiscated.
Of course it was on Volokh.com where the legal argument was first made that “New Orleans Gun Confiscations are Blatantly Illegal.” Now, the perpetrator governments have agreed to this legal conclusion, although they maintain the implausible assertion that gun confiscations were not the result of official policy. No doubt the factual issue will be explored in the lawsuits which are almost certainly to follow against the uniformed looters who stole guns from law-abiding citizens. Kudos to plaintiffs’ attorney Stephen Halbrook, whose memorandum of law is available here.
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