Amicus Brief in U.S. v. Rahimi

Update: On June 21, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in this case, upholding the law that prohibited people subject to restraining orders for domestic violence from possessing firearms.

In its 2023–2024 term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case challenging a law that prohibits people subject to restraining orders for domestic violence from possessing firearms. On August 21, 2023, the Center and its pro bono partner, Proskauer Rose LLP, filed this amicus brief in U.S. v. Rahimi in support of the law.

The brief specifically highlights that homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum people and that the majority of those deaths involve firearms. The brief then draws attention to the need for a jurisprudence that recognizes a right to safe and healthy pregnancy—in this case, one free from intimate partner gun violence—as part of the constitutional right to reproductive autonomy, as well as to the need to redress the broader maternal health crisis.