Original article can be found here.
The Supreme Court on Monday, November 9, 2026, denied certiorari in 22 firearms cases. Sixteen of those petitions challenged the federal felon-in-possession statute. The justices refused to hear them. The lower-court judgments in all 22 matters remain in force.
Those sixteen cases put a federal possession ban in front of the Court and asked whether it can be reconciled with the right to keep and bear arms. The Court did not answer. A denial of certiorari is not a decision on the merits. It is a refusal to take the case. For the people who filed those petitions, the federal felon-in-possession statute still governs what they may possess.
The same orders list granted the Trump administration argument time. The Solicitor General will participate in the December 2 oral arguments on state AR-15 bans. The United States will stand at the lectern and address the justices on those bans. That grant is as concrete as the denials: the administration is in the case.
Cook County attempted a mootness maneuver to pull assault-weapon ban litigation off the calendar. The Supreme Court is moving forward on those cases anyway. The AR-15 ban arguments remain set for December 2. State laws that prohibit AR-15-style rifles will be tested in open court, and the Solicitor General will take part.
Monday’s orders therefore split the docket in two. Twenty-two firearms petitions are over. The state AR-15 bans are not. Gun owners who sought review of the felon-in-possession statute received no hearing. The bans on AR-15-style rifles will receive a full argument with the Trump administration participating.
The Constitution outranks every statute on that list. The Second Amendment does not wait on a grant of certiorari to exist. It binds the Court, the states, and every officer who took an oath to support it. Local labels on rifles do not amend that text.
December 2 is the next date that matters. The justices will hear argument on the state AR-15 bans with the Solicitor General participating. The 22 denied petitions will not return on that calendar. What happens in that argument will decide whether those bans survive contact with the right the Constitution already secured.
References
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/110926zor_ap6c.pdf
- https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2026/11/scotus-gun-watch-11-09-2026
- https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/11/09/scotus-moves-forward-on-assault-weapon-ban-cases-despite-cook-countys-mootness-maneuver-n1234423
- https://gunreleases.com/supreme-court-gun-cases/
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