United States v. Emerson
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United States v. Emerson, 270 F.3d 203 (5th Cir. 2001), is a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit holding that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees individuals the right to bear arms. The case involved a challenge to the Constitutionality of , 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 Fifth Circuit 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. The U.S. Supreme Court denied review of the Fifth Circuit's decision, 122 S. Ct. 2362 (2002).
The Ninth Circuit disagreed with Emerson in Silveira v. Lockyer, 312 F.3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2002). As of 2008, the D.C. Circuit is the only other court to hold that the Second Amendment protected an individual right, in Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007).
