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John E. Cassidy v. Massachusetts

Paid petition · Appeals Court of Massachusetts, No. 2023-P-0517 · judgment March 4, 2024


Certiorari denied · October 7, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

John Cassidy legally purchased common firearms in Texas and carried them to Massachusetts as part of his move to the state in 2010.

  1. What type of‘Arms’ are protected by the Second Amendment when a state’s multi-level firearm licensing scheme attaches criminal liability for in home possession by a qualified but unlicensed individual?

  2. Can a law-abiding citizen who lawfully owns firearms in one state carry those arms to another state as part of a change in residence and as a new resident be convicted for their ‘newly unlicensed conduct’ by way of their continued possession of firearms inside their new home?

  3. Does a state’s multi-level firearm licensing scheme violate the Second Amendment when that scheme requires a license to carry to merely possess common firearms in one’s home and punishes all without a carrying license with a felony, mandatory jailtime, and a lifetime ban on constitutionally protected conduct?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John E. Cassidy

For respondent
Thomas Edward Bocian
Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 07 2024
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Aug 14 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/30/2024.
  3. Aug 12 2024
    Waiver of right of respondent Massachusetts to respond filed.
  4. Jul 17 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 30, 2024)