Having mentioned in passing yesterday that I think the Supreme Court would take the Parker case, I wanted to respond briefly to Randy’s very interesting post below that predicts the Court will not take the case.
My thinking is that Parker is a good case for cert because there is a split on the constitutionality of the D.C. gun ban: the federal U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck it down in Parker, but the “local” D.C. Court of Appeals upheld it in Sandidge v. United States, 520 A.2d 1057 (D.C. 1987). Sandidge adopted a “collective rights” view of the Second Amendment, and under Sandidge the D.C. “local” court system has rejected all Second Amendment challenges to D.C.’s gun laws.
I would imagine the conflict between Sandidge and Parker justifies Supreme Court review because no other court can resolve the conflict within the D.C Court system as to the constitutionality of the D.C. gun ban. (I’m assuming that the federal ruling doesn’t somehow trump the “local” court ruling; this would be the case with federal versus state rulings on federal constiutional law questions, although I suppose it’s possible that there is a difference with the unusual D.C. court system. Does anyone know?)
Finally, Randy rightly mentions the possibility of en banc review in the D.C. Circuit. I don’t know how likely it is, as I would imagine it depends on the internal dynamics within that court (a topic on which I remain rationally ignorant).
UPDATE: In the comment thread, “Dr.Grishka” writes:
It would seem to me that the federal ruling “trumps” the DC Court of Appeals ruling. Anyone prosecuted under that statute can seek federal habeas relief on the grounds that he cannot be prosecuted under the federal habeas statute.
I believe that’s wrong, though. My understanding is that under the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act, Pub.L. No. 91-358 (1970), defendants convicted in the DC local court system cannot seek habeas relief in the DC federal court system. See Swain v. Pressley, 430 U.S. 372 (1977).