{"id":100302,"date":"2024-02-24T17:55:24","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T23:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=100302"},"modified":"2024-02-24T17:55:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T23:55:24","slug":"100302","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=100302","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Do states matter?\u2019: Missouri attorney general says this Second Amendment case could boost states\u2019 rights<\/a><\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE \u2014 Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Friday that a Biden administration challenge to a gun rights law in his state has the potential to breathe new life into the 10th Amendment rights reserved for state governments and the people.<\/p>\n

Fresh out of arguing in defense of a Second Amendment law before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Bailey spoke with the Washington Examiner about the impact it could have on state sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Second Amendment Preservation Act is about protecting our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, but it\u2019s also a codification of the anti-commandeering doctrine from the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,\u201d he said. \u201cThe federal government may not use state law enforcement, or the apparatus of the state, or its political subdivisions to enforce unconstitutional statutes and rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state law bars Missouri officers from enforcing federal gun laws that are at odds with Missouri statutes, and would impose a $50,000 fine for officers who knowingly do so.<\/p>\n

Bailey said that if the issue were to reach the U.S. Supreme Court on the merits and justices provided a favorable ruling, it could increase state authority in a way past courts have not been willing to do and reshape precedent on 10th Amendment jurisprudence. The 10th Amendment reserves for the states powers that the Constitution does not reserve for the federal government.<\/p>\n

Bailey called the Missouri gun case the \u201cperfect vehicle\u201d for allowing states to codify the anti-commandeering doctrine.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration mounted a challenge to the Missouri law in 2022, claiming the law violated the supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution, which gives the federal government precedent over state authority where conflicting statutes exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves,\u201d Bailey said, noting that the Constitution was intended to protect the people from the government, and the \u201cFounding Fathers would have understood that states are guarantors of individual liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden\u2019s Department of Justice rejects that text, history, and tradition of the United States Constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last year, U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes, an appointee of Barack Obama, invalidated the Missouri statute on the basis that it violated the supremacy clause, writing that it \u201cexposes citizens to greater harm by interfering with the federal government\u2019s ability to enforce lawfully enacted firearms regulations designed by Congress for the purpose of protecting citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey requested an emergency review from the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the law, which the high court declined in October, sending the case to the 8th Circuit. At the time, Justice Clarence Thomas indicated he would have reinstated the law.<\/p>\n

The root issue for Bailey, however, is the authority of states to enact their own laws without the approval of the federal government \u2014 and whether the federal government has the power to nullify state laws it simply does not like.<\/p>\n

Before the Second Amendment and 10th Amendment issues are resolved on merit, however, the issue of the Department of Justice\u2019s standing to sue \u2014 the legal capacity of a party to bring a lawsuit \u2014 would need to be decided first.<\/p>\n

Bailey is challenging the standing of the department because he says there is no injury that gives it the basis to file a lawsuit. He said the department is simply suing on the basis of potential future conflict between state and federal firearms law \u2014 something that would not meet the standing requirement.<\/p>\n

Judges James B. Loken, a George H.W. Bush appointee, Steven M. Colloton, a George W. Bush appointee, and Jane L. Kelly, an Obama appointee, presided over the case in a three-judge panel.<\/p>\n

Bailey said the judges focused in on the standing issues surrounding the Department of Justice challenge to the state law, as the supremacy clause does not create an independent cause of action to challenge statutes without actual injury. The attorney general said his perception of the judges\u2019 lines of questioning led him to believe they are skeptical of the department\u2019s authority to sue.<\/p>\n

It is unclear what the Biden administration would do in the event of an unfavorable ruling, and they would have the opportunity to request it be heard by an en banc panel of the full 8th Circuit, or appeal to the nation\u2019s high court.<\/p>\n

If Missouri receives an unfavorable ruling, Bailey said he has the constitutional duty to appeal the case because he said he is required by law to uphold rights protected in the state constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a sacred duty under our state constitution to continue to fight to defend Missourians right to keep and bear arms, and I will happily discharge that duty,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Do states matter?\u2019: Missouri attorney general says this Second Amendment case could boost states\u2019 rights EXCLUSIVE \u2014 Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Friday that a Biden administration challenge to a gun rights law in his state has the potential to breathe new life into the 10th Amendment rights reserved for state governments and the … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100303,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100302\/revisions\/100303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}