United States v. Bost
- Case No.: 24-1719
- Jurisdiction: 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals
- Brief Filed: December 18, 2025
Briefs
Argument(s)
Courts deciding a criminal defendant’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge should be limited to evaluating the application of the charged statute to the case before them—that is, to the elements of the charged offense. In Section 922(g)(1) prosecutions that means courts should evaluate the convictions the government cites as predicates for the charge. The Second Amendment question is whether punishing the defendant under Section 922(g)(1) is consistent with the Nation’s history and tradition of permanently disarming individuals who have committed particular crimes. The answer cannot turn on whether the accused has a freefloating character of being physically dangerous and thus subject to disarmament.
Author(s)
Lisa A. Mathewson, Mathewson Law LLC, Philadelphia, PA; Michael B. Kimberly, Winston & Strawn LLP, Washington, DC; Alana Cohen and Scott Shimizu, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago, IL
