The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will take up a challenge to a pair of state “assault weapons” bans in its upcoming term, marking the latest major Second Amendment case before the high court.
The court said in an order list released midday Tuesday that it would take up Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins as a consolidated case for the term beginning in October. The Viramontes case deals with an Illinois law banning so-called “assault weapons,” while the Grant case deals with a similar Connecticut law.
The case of the two assault weapons bans will center on the question of “whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.”
The two cases had each been discussed at nearly two dozen closed-door conferences dating back to last year, as Second Amendment activists had hoped for months that the high court would take up the challenge to “assault weapons” bans, which have spread throughout the country.
The Supreme Court denied an opportunity to take up a challenge to Maryland’s “assault weapons” ban last year, with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch saying they would have taken up the case. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said at the time that while he had not opted to take up the Maryland case, it was a matter the high court “should and presumably will address” in the next “term or two.”
For the Supreme Court to take up a case for arguments, only four of the nine justices must agree to do so. The vote count on which justices opt to take up a case is typically not disclosed when a petition is accepted for argument.
The Supreme Court concluded its current term Tuesday, with opinions in the final four cases. The high court struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, but also upheld a pair of state laws barring biological men from women’s sports.
SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court struck down a sweeping Hawaii gun law mandating that private property owners must give permission to allow a person to carry a concealed weapon at their establishment, and it sided with a marijuana user to strike a law barring unlawful drug users from possessing firearms.
The high court’s next term will begin on Oct. 5, with oral arguments in a case yet to be scheduled. Cases for the next term will be argued between October 2026 and April 2027.