Justice Clarence Thomas said he hoped the court would consider what kinds of weapons are constitutional.
The Supreme Court declined on July 2 to take up several Second Amendment-based challenges to an Illinois law that prohibits so-called assault weapons such as the popular AR-15 rifle.
The ruling means that the Illinois law will remain on the books.
Lawsuits pending against the Illinois statute will continue in the lower courts. The issue seems likely to return to the Supreme Court in the future.
The ruling came in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. That decision recognized a constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense and held that restrictions on guns must be deeply rooted in American history if they are to survive scrutiny.
Just last week, the Supreme Court overturned a Trump-era federal ban on bump stocks. The bump stock, which replaces a rifle’s standard stock, was designed for people with limited hand mobility, such as those who suffer from arthritis. A bump stock doesn’t make any modifications to the firing components of a rifle but makes the continuous rapid fire of the weapon possible.
The decision came in a long list of orders in ongoing cases that the court issued the day after it finished delivering opinions in all the argued cases for the 2023–2024 term. The justices now begin their summer recess. The court will resume hearing cases on the first Monday in October.
Justice Samuel Alito said he would have granted the petition for certiorari, or review, in the Illinois case, Harrel v. Raoul. No other justices dissented. At least four of the nine justices must vote to grant a petition for it to advance.
Respondent Kwame Raoul, a Democrat, is the attorney general of Illinois.
