GUNS AND TIMES: ORIGINALISM AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISION IN NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC. V. BRUEN, 597 U.S. ___ (2022)

Author

• Haven Gray

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Tunick, Mark

Abstract

The recent United States Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. ___ (2022), written by Justice Clarence Thomas, established that states enacting restrictions on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms must now demonstrate that their restrictions are “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation”. The notion that the Supreme Court should defer to historical sentiments and the perceived original intent of the framers of the Constitution is known as originalism and is becoming increasingly prevalent in the decisions of the Court. Originalism fails in that it requires U.S. Supreme Court justices to rely on biased amicus curiae briefs and an incomplete understanding of history when rendering their decisions. I will argue that Justice Thomas’s appeal to historical understandings in NYSRPA v. Bruen is not only a flawed theory of constitutional interpretation, but also historically inaccurate.

Comments

Thesis (B.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, 2023

Recommended Citation

Gray, Haven, "GUNS AND TIMES: ORIGINALISM AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISION IN NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC. V. BRUEN, 597 U.S. ___ (2022)" (2023). Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2020 - Present. 209.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_honors/209

Extent

66 p.

Identifier

FAUHT00258