60 Cases and Counting: What Gun Case Will SCOTUS Take Next?

Two cases are pending this fall which offer the Supreme Court opportunities to delve into Second Amendment rights and the powers of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

The Court's seminal decisions - establishing a constitutional right to have handguns in homes for self defense in Heller (2008) and applying the Second Amendment to states and localities in McDonald (2010) - reportedly have spawned more than 700 civil and criminal cases raising Second Amendment issues. Most of the cases that have gone to decision have upheld existing laws.

SCOTUS has not taken a major gun rights case since McDonald. It has turned down requests to review more than 60 cases. Petitions for two civil cases are now pending: Lane v. Holder and NRA v. BATFE. These are direct challenges to long-standing Federal gun laws. Lane was on the Court's calendar for October 11 but surprisingly, SCOTUS did not announce whether it would review the case. NRA is a bold attempt to get the Court's attention. It is not yet calendared.

Beneath the squiggling, some ideas why these cases may be different from the ones the Court - so far - has not been willing to hear.