On June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court issued its decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense and invalidating a New York law that required a showing of a special need before an individual was allowed to carry outside the home.

The opinion adopts the method of constitutional analysis rooted in the Constitution’s text, history, and tradition that Catholic Law Professor J. Joel Alicea and his co-author, John D. Ohlendorf, advocated in the amicus brief they submitted to the Court. In doing so, the opinion rejects the tiers-of-scrutiny analysis that Professor Alicea and Mr. Ohlendorf argued against in their amicus brief. Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited the amicus brief during oral arguments in November as part of a discussion of why the tiers-of-scrutiny analysis should be rejected.