Letitia James celebrates Supreme Court ruling

New York Attorney General Letitia James celebrated the Supreme Court‘s ruling on Friday in a firearms case.

In United States v. Rahimi, the justices voted 8-1 in support of a law banning individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. Clarence Thomas was the only justice who dissented from the majority opinion.

James, a Democrat who has urged more stringent gun control laws, issued a statement supporting the Court’s decision.

“Gun safety laws save lives,” she wrote. “I am pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the federal law that stops domestic abusers from legally possessing firearms. This law, and the similar statutes that have been established in nearly every American state and territory, help protect vulnerable people, and keep guns out of dangerous hands.”

She continued, “I am proud of the work my fellow attorneys general and I did to stand up for this federal law and to protect commonsense guardrails when it comes to gun safety.”

The case involved Zackey Rahimi, a Texas man who allegedly assaulted his girlfriend during an argument in December 2019. During the dispute, he allegedly fired a gun. Later, he allegedly threatened to shoot his girlfriend if she told anyone about the assault. He was the subject of a restraining order in February 2020, which suspended his handgun license.

He allegedly threatened another woman with a gun in November 2020 and allegedly fired multiple shots at a fast-food restaurant in January 2021, prosecutors said.

The 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals previously sided with Rahimi, striking down a federal law prohibiting individuals under domestic violence restraining orders from owning guns. The Supreme Court’s ruling Friday reversed that ruling, reinstating the ban.

James was among a group of 25 attorneys general who submitted an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the ban. The brief warned that the 5th Circuit’s decision puts “at risk domestic violence victims who may be harmed or killed by their abusers” and “hamstrings both the federal government and amici States in their efforts to protect their residents’ safety.”

Other Democratic attorneys general joined James in welcoming the decision.

“The Court’s 8-1 decision today in U.S. v Rahimi is the only logical result. Domestic violence abusers are more likely to be perpetrators of gun violence and should not have access to firearms. Period,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein posted, “I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. This decision will save lives. It’s simple: we have to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous, violent people.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, in the majority decision, wrote, “When a restraining order contains a finding that an individual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner, that individual may—consistent with the Second Amendment—be banned from possessing firearms while the order is in effect.”

In his dissenting opinion, Thomas wrote, “The Court and Government do not point to a single historical law revoking a citizen’s Second Amendment right based on possible interpersonal violence. The Government has not borne its burden to prove that §922(g)(8) is consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.”

The ruling comes just one week after the Court handed a win to gun rights advocates, reversing a Trump-era ban on bump stocks.