Photo Credit: PFhub.comWell you might have missed this story last Thursday out of Springfield with all the hullabaloo about how the nation was nearly toppled and hearings needed Hollywood Directors to put on a show Thursday night to say that , well, uh, nothing that wasn’t previously known. Or you may have been caught up in the economic news with the President saying the economy is doing good and record setting gas prices are alternately good, and/or all Putin’s fault. Hey this running a nation is so easy it’s like riding a bike!
Well back in Springfield, the Illinois Supreme Court had it’s second bite at the big FOID Card Constitutionality question in the People vs Vivian Claudine Brown case, and once again declined to hear the Constitutional question.
Stemming from way back in 2017 Ms Brown was charged with no valid FOID card after police found a .22 LR rifle in her home. The case against her was heard in county level circuit court in White County, IL and the trial judge said the FOID card was unconstitutional in this setting and Ms Brown has a 2nd Amendment right to possess a firearm in her home separate from the state FOID card requirement.
The case went up to the state Supreme Court, skipping the Appellate court as it was a Constitutional issue. Well, the Supremes sent it back down to trial court on procedural issues that first time and did not tie into the Constitutional question.
For 2A people in Illinois this case has seemed to be the biggest chance to get the onerous FOID card thrown out, and most were surprised to see it resurrected again at the trial level this past year, and sent back up to the Supreme Court a second time to hear the Constitutionality challenge of the FOID card law again!
Sadly, last week the Supreme Court once again refused to take a big bite of that apple, and just sent it back to the trial court on procedural grounds. All Supreme Courts try to avoid taking on big time Constitutional issues when they can, so this one is just sad to hear, but not too surprising.
Any other court challenges will have to start from the bottom up again, and will take several years to reach the state Supreme Court.
….and then this morning in late breaking news, the U.S. Supreme Court just struck down an onerous New York Law that made citizens show cause to get a rare concealed carry permit…hmmm pickings might be ripe up at the biggest Supreme Court to look at the FOID card….