The Ninth Circuit Court on Thursday put on hold its consideration of a case testing whether the Second Amendment right “to keep and bear arms” restricts laws passed by state and local governments, and not just those passed at the federal level. After a hearing before an 11-judge en banc Court in San Francisco, the Court issued an order vacating submission of the case of Nordyke et al. v. King et al. (docket 07-15763), until the Supreme Court acts on pending cases raising the same issue.Â
Earlier, a three-judge panel of the Circuit Court had extended the Second Amendment to the state, county and city level, through the Fourteenth Amendment. That ruling was vacated when the Circuit Court agreed to reconsider the issue en banc.  The Supreme Court may act as early as next week on one or more of three pending cases: National Rifle Association v. Chicago (08-1497), McDonald v. Chicago (08-1521), and Maloney v. Rice (08-1592). All three are scheduled to be considered at next Tuesday’s private Conference.
(Thanks to Howard Bashman of How Appealing blog for the alert and the link to Thursday’s order.)
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