McDonald v. City of Chicago

McDonald v. City of Chicago
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 2, 2010 Decided June 28, 2010
Full case name	Otis McDonald, et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois, et al.
Docket no.	08-1521
Citations	561 U.S. 742 (more) 130 S. Ct. 3020; 177 L. Ed. 2d 894
Argument	Oral argument
Opinion announcement	Opinion announcement
Decision	Opinion
Case history
Prior	Judgment for defendants, 617 F. Supp. 2d 752 (N.D. Ill. 2008), aff'd, 567 F.3d 856 (7th Cir. 2009), cert. granted, 557 U.S. 965 (2009).
Holding
The right to keep and bear arms for self defense in one's home is protected under the Second Amendment, and is incorporated against the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Case opinions
Majority	Alito (Parts I, II–A, II–B, II–D, III–A, and III–B), joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas
Plurality	Alito (Parts II–C, IV, and V), joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy
Concurrence	Scalia
Concurrence	Thomas (in part and in judgment)
Dissent	Stevens
Dissent	Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. II, XIV
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
United States v. Cruikshank (1876) (in part) Presser v. Illinois (1886) Miller v. Texas (1894)

McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), was a landmark^[1] decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms", as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment and is thereby enforceable against the states. The decision cleared up the uncertainty left in the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) as to the scope of gun rights in regard to the states.

Initially, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit had upheld a Chicago ordinance banning the possession of handguns as well as other gun regulations affecting rifles and shotguns, citing United States v. Cruikshank (1876), Presser v. Illinois (1886), and Miller v. Texas (1894).^[2] The petition for certiorari was filed by Alan Gura, the attorney who had successfully argued Heller, and Chicago-area attorney David G. Sigale.^[3] The Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association sponsored the litigation on behalf of several Chicago residents, including retiree Otis McDonald.

The oral arguments took place on March 2, 2010.^[4][5] On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court, in a 5–4 decision, reversed the Seventh Circuit's decision, holding that the Second Amendment was incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment, thus protecting those rights from infringement by state and local governments.^[6] It then remanded the case back to the Seventh Circuit to resolve conflicts between certain Chicago gun restrictions and the Second Amendment.