Knife Rights is going forward with an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States of the Second Circuit’s decision in favor of New York City and District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. in our long running civil rights lawsuit over their persecution of pocket knife owners.
While our lawsuit against New York City and DA Vance centers on their abusive enforcement of New York State’s gravity knife ban against owners of common pocket knives, the focus changes somewhat as it moves to the Supreme Court.
The first step in getting a case heard before the Supreme Court is submitting submitting a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Court to hear our appeal. Keep in mind that the Supreme Court does not generally agree to hear a case just because any particular decision in a case is unjust, irrational or just plain terrible, all of which describe this ruling in spades.
Beyond settling major constitutional issues, the Court will sometimes choose to resolve differences in the application of Federal law among different Federal circuit courts when its decisions are not applied the same throughout the U.S. The Second Circuit panel’s ruling regarding our constitutional vagueness claim in this case opens up that possibility with starkly split decisions between it and other circuits, as well as splits between a number of state courts. The writ explains why this case is important and worthy of the Court’s limited time.
A Supreme Court decision to hear the case could affect the implementation and enforcement of a wide spectrum of laws to persons throughout the U.S. It is no longer just about these common folding knives. New York City’s enforcement of the state’s gravity knife law against common folding knives is now the vehicle to answer the bigger constitutional question at issue. Only if the Supreme Court accepts the case do we get to argue the merits of our particular case as it reflects this bigger issue.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg last week granted us a 60-day extension until January 13th, 2019, for submission of our petition.
It’s always long odds for any case to be accepted by the Supreme Court. However, not making the attempt ensures we lose. And, that would allow very bad precedent to be set in stone.
Taking a case to Supreme Court is an expensive proposition, more so for a small organization like Knife Rights. We still need to raise significant funds for this effort if we don’t want to hand a victory to New York Governor Cuomo, DA Vance andr New York City Mayor de Blasio
Please consider a year-end TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation to Knife Rights to support our efforts at the Supreme Court. Donate at: www.kniferights.org/donate/foundation
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