United States v. Emerson
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United States v. Emerson, 270 F.3d 203 (5th Cir. 2001), cert. denied, 122 S. Ct. 2362 (2002), is a 2001 decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution does guarantee individuals the right to bear arms. The case involved a challenge to the Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. ยง 922(g)(8)(C)(ii), a federal statute which prohibited the transportation of firearms or ammunition in interstate commerce by persons subject to a court order that, by its explicit terms, prohibits the use of physical force against an intimate partner or child.
The Court engaged in an extensive analysis of the text and history of the Second Amendment and its attendant caselaw (including many state supreme court decisions), and it ultimately determined that the Second Amendment does guarantee individuals the right to keep and bear arms. Nonetheless, the Court held that the particular deprivation of the right to bear arms in the case before it did not violate the Constitution.
This decision conflicts with the later holding of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Silveira v. Lockyer, a conflict that has yet to be addressed by the United States Supreme Court.
