Anti-Gun Ninth Circuit Ducks Issue; Sends Case Back to District Court

The challenge to Hawaii's near-total denial of handgun carry permits was brought a decade ago, and, after a series of appeals ending before the Ninth Circuit, finally made it to the Supreme Court. The SC overturned the that court's decision upholding the permit denial and sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration under the Bruen decision.

There is a reason the Ninth Circuit is not highly respected. The court failed to do as the SC instructed. Instead, it sent the case back down to the district court. A blistering dissent castigated that act:

"Instead of remanding without explanation or justification, we should reverse the district court in an opinion holding that Young has stated a claim upon which relief may be granted, that section 134-9 is unconstitutional, and that the case must proceed accordingly in district court. If we issued such an opinion, we would ensure that Bruen is applied uniformly in our Circuit in future cases. And in this case, we would save the parties and the district court the time and expense of continuing to litigate issues that we could resolve easily."

Kudos to Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, joined by Judges Consuelo Callahan, Sandra Ikuta, and Ryan Nelson, who dissented.