How often does SCOTUS combine cases?

[Aim1]

With New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen being ruled on any day now we look forward to another gun case being granted review by SCOTUS and hoping it will be heard much quicker than the nearly 10 year gap from NYSRPA Inc. v. Bruen and the last SCOTUS case.


I think this case will most likely pertain to so-called Assault Weapons or High Capacity magazines. I believe there is already an assault weapons casing waiting to be granted or denied cert from SCOTUS.


While it would be nice to get a gun case that pertained to assault weapons and high capacity magazines since both of these go hand-in-hand when banned it doesn't seem to be the case.


So, the US Supreme Court could take 2 cases, one an assault weapons case and one a magazine capacity case and combine them. I don't know what the chances of this are though.



Whare are the chances of SCOTUS combing an assault weapons case with a magazine capacity case?

 

[General Geoff]

Somewhere between slim and nill

 

[LiveLife]

[What] are the chances of SCOTUS [combining] an assault weapons case with a magazine capacity case?

I could possibly see SCOTUS combining Duncan v Bonta (CA magazine ban case) with ANJRPC v. Grewal (NJ magazine ban case) as ruling on one would apply to the other but highly unlikely - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...r-aw-magazine-ban.905531/page-3#post-12318108

And while there are other AW cases, only Bianchi v Frosh (MD assault weapon case) is being considered by SCOTUS at the moment and expect separate ruling from Duncan/Grewal magazine capacity cases.

 

[armoredman]

I would hazard a guess that the uproar from Dobbs and Bruen being decided will cause many to question taking another 2A case right now, despite the fact that now IS the time. We'll see.

 

[MrShooter]

Assault weapons, do you mean hammers and baseball bats?

 

[starnbar]

you have to balance a states rights against the feds/constitution a state may incorporate rather heavy handed restrictions but they cannot be in direct conflict with your constitutional rights.

 

[Riomouse911]

Unless the cases are nearly the same, and the points of appeal are similar, I believe the SCOTUS only take a single case and make a specific ruling rather than making general rulings. The multiple cases being combined most often happens on split rulings between districts on similar cases, so the rule of law can be universally applied.

Of course their rulings can have wide-reaching impact beyond just the single ruling made.

Stay safe.

 

[CapnMac]

Part of it comes down to legal procedure.
The Courts are dealing with A versus B, and the appeals are on errors of procedure in the original case, and/or findings made in the appellate process.

So, C vs. D may have little to do with A v. B, and you are mixing apples and artichokes in the view of the Court. Even in a situation where it's A v. B and C v. B, it's down to the assumptions and assertions made in the process.

Combining things is typically tied to some assertion that is common to both, even if the original case was on separate issues.
To our ends here, let's say that an Appeals court used a nuance of, for instance, the "common use" holding in Heller to make a ruling.
If in an unrelated case, the "common use" holding is also a key in the case, then a SCOTUS ruling on "common use" would affect both cases. SO, the Final Holding of the court would be written to apply to both cases.

There's far more to it than that, which is why being an attorney wants all manner of education and continuous study.

 

[Gun4Fun90]

Combining cases is more common when the fact pattern of both cases is very similar and they are ruling on the same question in both. That being said while I have heard of both cases I do not know enough about the specific facts of each to comment on whether or not there is a chance they will be combined.