SCOTUSblog by Andrew Hamm 1/15/2021
Petitions of the week: Three Second Amendment petitions and a Wiretap Act claim against Facebook
This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether Facebook plug-ins violate the Wiretap Act and whether the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess firearms outside the home or after a conviction for a nonviolent offense.
Passed in 1968, the Wiretap Act makes it unlawful for someone to “intentionally intercept[] … any wire, oral, or electronic communication,†unless that person “is a party to the communication.†Facebook users brought a class action alleging that the tech company violated the Wiretap Act between 2010 and 2011. Specifically, the users claim that Facebook plug-ins on different websites allowed Facebook to gather URL data even when they were logged out of Facebook, which the users contend was an unlawful “interception.†The district court dismissed the case on the ground that Facebook was a “party to the communication.†Acknowledging a circuit split, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the case could proceed. In Facebook v. Davis, the company asks the justices to review and reverse the 9th Circuit’s decision.
District of Columbia v. Heller held that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess firearms at home. The decision further indicated that longstanding firearms bans for felons were “presumptively lawful.†Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), individuals convicted of crimes punishable by over one year’s imprisonment are barred from possessing firearms. Holloway v. Rosen and Folajtar v. Barr ask whether applications of the ban to nonviolent offenders violate the Second Amendment. Raymond Holloway cannot possess firearms because of a misdemeanor conviction for driving under the influence. Lisa Folajtar is barred because of a felony conviction for willfully making a materially false statement on her tax returns.
In Holloway’s case, the district court ruled that the ban was unconstitutional as applied to Holloway, who argued that he was not the type of “unvirtuous citizen†who has historically been disarmed because, among other things, his offense was a nonviolent misdemeanor for which his sentence was less than one year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit disagreed, determining that Holloway’s DUI was “serious†enough to consider him an “unvirtuous citizen.†In Folajtar’s case, both the district court and the 3rd Circuit rejected her argument that her nonviolent crime was not “serious†enough for the ban. Both petitions ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decisions below and to clarify the standards for when “presumptively lawful†felon-possess bans rise to a Second Amendment violation.
Heller also left unresolved the extent of Second Amendment protections outside the home. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch applied for New York licenses to carry firearms outside the home. The licensing officer denied their requests after determining that, under New York law, they had “failed to show ‘proper cause’ to carry a firearm in public for the purpose of self-defense, because [they] did not demonstrate a special need for self-defense that distinguished [them] from the general public.†Nash, Koch and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association ask the Supreme Court to take their case because the lower courts are split over the strength of Second Amendment protections outside the home.
These and other petitions of the week are below:
More:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/01/petitions-of-the-week-three-second-amendment-petitions-and-a-wiretap-act-claim-against-facebook/
