The Supreme Court of the United States declined to intervene Friday in response to an emergency application seeking the High Court to act in favor of Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act.
The Supreme Court declined to get involved while the appeals process is playing out; such decisions not to intervene have been common when gun legislation is on an appeals path that could result in it being brought before the High Court at a future time.
For example, on May 17, 2023, Breitbart News pointed out that the Supreme Court chose not to intervene against the Naperville “assault weapons” ban, deciding instead to allow the judicial process to run its normal course.
Even more recently, on August 8, Breitbart News noted the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the ATF’s “partially complete” pistol frame rule to stand while an appeal runs its course in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The Missouri Second Amendment Preservation Act declared various federal gun controls unenforceable in the state. Another aspect of the law allows police departments/agencies to be sued by Missouri citizens if citizens could prove gun controls infringing the Second Amendment had been enforced.
On Friday, the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the appeals process already underway regarding Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act.
Justice Neil Gorsuch concurred with the decision not to intervene at this time, writing, “I agree with the denial of the application for a stay under the present circumstances. An injunction purporting to bind private parties not before the district court or the ‘challenged’ provisions ‘themselves,’ however, would be inconsistent with the ‘equitable powers of federal courts.'”
Justice Samuel Alito concurred with Gorsuch. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented but provided no explanation with his dissent.
The emergency application pertained to Missouri v. United States. The application was was No. 23A296 in the Supreme Court of the United States.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
