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Thomas Rogers, et al. v. Gurbir Grewal, Attorney General of New Jersey, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 18-2366 · judgment September 21, 2018

Certiorari denied · June 15, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 20% cert probability (95% interval 13%–29%)

Before the decision, about 4.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Third Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Questions presented

In District of Columbia v. Heller, this Court held that the Second Amendment protects “the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation,” 554 U.S. 570, 592 (2008), and in McDonald v. City of Chicago, it determined that this right “is fully applicable to the States,” 561 U.S. 742, 750 (2010). The Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia and Ninth Circuits have concluded that the right to carry a firearm extends outside the home and that licensing restrictions that require citizens to show a special need for carrying a firearm effectively “destroy[ ] the ordinarily situated citizen’s right to bear arms” and therefore are categorically unconstitutional. Wrenn v. District of Columbia, 864 F.3d 650, 666 (D.C. Cir. 2017); accord Young v. Hawaii, 896 F.3d 1044, 1074 (9th Cir. 2018). By contrast, the court below, along with the First, Second, and Fourth Circuits, have upheld substantively indistinguishable licensing restrictions under a watered-down “intermediate scrutiny” analysis. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm outside the home for selfdefense.

  2. Whether the government may deny categorically the exercise of the right to carry a firearm outside the home to typical law-abiding citizens by conditioning the exercise of the right on a showing of a special need to carry a firearm.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Paul D. Clement
Clement & Murphy, PLLC

For respondent
Stuart Mark Feinblatt
Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 8 conferences

Amicus briefs
6 cert-stage

Argument & decision

Decided June 15, 2020.

Proceedings

  1. Jun 15 2020
    Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, with whom Justice Kavanaugh joins as to all but Part II, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
  2. Jun 08 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2020.
  3. Jun 01 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/4/2020.
  4. May 22 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/28/2020.
  5. May 18 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/21/2020.
  6. May 11 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/15/2020.
  7. Apr 29 2020
    Supplemental brief of petitioners Thomas Rogers, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  8. Apr 27 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/1/2020.
  9. May 07 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/23/2019.
  10. May 03 2019
    Reply of petitioners Thomas Rogers, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  11. Apr 19 2019
    Brief of respondents Gurbir Grewal, et al. in opposition filed.
  12. Mar 15 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 19, 2019, for all respondents.
  13. Mar 12 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 21, 2019 to April 19, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Feb 19 2019
    Response Requested. (Due March 21, 2019)
  15. Feb 06 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/22/2019.
  16. Feb 01 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Law Enforcement Groups et al. filed.
  17. Feb 01 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of American Civil Rights Union filed.
  18. Feb 01 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Coalition of New Jersey Firearms Owners, et al. filed.
  19. Feb 01 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of National Rifle Association of America, Inc. filed.
  20. Jan 31 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of National African American Gun Association, Inc. filed.
  21. Jan 29 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Kenneth J. Brown, Jr. to respond filed.
  22. Jan 28 2019
    Waiver of right of respondents Gurbir Grewal, et al. to respond filed.
  23. Jan 24 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondents, Gurbir Grewal, et al.
  24. Jan 18 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Attorney's General of Arizona, et al. filed.
  25. Jan 04 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioners, Thomas Rogers, et al.
  26. Dec 20 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 1, 2019)