WASHINGTON (CN) — Missouri asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow enforcement of a state law that would ban police officers from enforcing federal gun laws.
The emergency application asks the justices to block a lower court ruling finding the state’s law unconstitutional.
“Absent a stay, the state of Missouri and its citizens face immediate, irreparable harm,” Missouri’s Solicitor General Joshua Divine wrote in the state’s application.
Passed by the state’s Republican-led Legislature, the Second Amendment Preservation Act loosens gun laws by abandoning training requirements and background checks. The 2021 law would also subject law enforcement agencies to $50,000 fines each time an officer attempts to enforce any federal firearms laws.
“Like many states, Missouri has disagreements with the federal government about the correct interpretation of the Second Amendment — and thus how to interpret and enforce certain federal firearms statutes,” Divine wrote.
Missouri claims state lawmakers enacted the Second Amendment Preservation Act in response to the justices’ own Second Amendment rulings. The state thinks the high court’s rulings make some federal gun laws unconstitutional so the Legislature passed a law barring their enforcement.
“So in 2021, Missouri passed a law — the Second Amendment Preservation Act — publicly stating the legislature’s interpretation of the Second Amendment, prohibiting Missouri’s local governments from helping federal officials to enforce federal laws not in line with that interpretation, and creating a remedy akin to § 1983 against Missouri officials for violations of the Second Amendment,” Divine wrote.
After the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County, and Jackson County sued to block enforcement of the law, the Justice Department jumped into the fray. The government says Missouri does not have the authority to nullify federal laws.
Governor Mike Parson and state Attorney General Eric Schmitt saw the move as the Biden administration infringing on citizen’s Second Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes, a Barack Obama appointee, disagreed, finding Missouri’s law unconstitutional. Wimes said the law violated the supremacy of U.S. federal law over state law.
“At best, this statute causes confusion among state law enforcement officials who are deputized for federal task force operations, and at worst, is unconstitutional on its face,” Wimes wrote.
The Eighth Circuit declined a stay application from the state on Sept. 29.
Missouri argues the justices should block the lower court ruling and allow the law to be enforced as it has for the last two years.
“So except for the 24-hour period between when the district court entered its order and its administrative stay and the two business days between the Eighth Circuit issuing its one-line order and Missouri filing this application, Missouri’s law has been allowed to stay in effect for more than two years,” Divine wrote. ”By issuing a stay, this court would maintain the status quo.”
The state also says the high court should recognize the important federalism questions posed by the case.
“The court should be equally solicitous of the need for a state to vindicate its sovereign authority here because the district court’s order places extraordinary stress on settled concepts of sovereignty and federalism,” Divine wrote.
The emergency application was submitted to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who presides over applications from the Eighth Circuit. Kavanaugh can respond to the application himself or send the case to the full court for review.
Follow @KelseyReichmann
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
-
Prosecutorial misconduct May 1, 2024