SCOTUS Gun Rights Cases & SEC Enforcement Shifts | Bloomberg Law

SEC Enforcement Under New Leadership

• 💡 Paul Atkins has signaled a shift at the SEC, emphasizing a return to core missions: investor protection, fair markets, and capital formation.
• 🎯 Enforcement actions have decreased by approximately 28% under Atkins, with a focus on traditional violations like offering fraud and insider trading, and a greater emphasis on individual offenders over corporate entities.
• 🚀 This contrasts with the Gary Gensler era, which was characterized by vigorous enforcement, innovative theories (e.g., shadow trading, ESG issues), and record penalties aimed at deterrence.
• ⚠️ The SEC has withdrawn most crypto-related cases against exchanges, though cases involving outright theft are still pursued.
• 📌 A procedural change now requires commissioners to approve formal orders of investigation by majority vote, potentially slowing the pace of enforcement.

Supreme Court's Second Amendment Jurisprudence

• ⚖️ The Supreme Court is reviewing a federal law (18 U.S. Code § 922(g)) that prohibits unlawful drug users and addicts from possessing firearms, a case stemming from the Hmani conviction.
• 🎯 The Fifth Circuit ruled the blanket ban unconstitutional as applied, suggesting it could be permissible only when an individual is demonstrably under the influence of drugs while armed.
• 🔑 The government argues for the law's validity by citing historical regulations concerning the mentally ill, perceived dangerousness of certain groups, and laws related to alcohol intoxication.
• 📜 The Court's 2022 Bruen decision requires firearm restrictions to align with the nation's historical tradition of regulation, creating challenges for lower courts.

Gun Rights and Private Property

• 🏠 The Supreme Court will also examine a Hawaii law that flips the default rule for firearms on private property, requiring property owners to explicitly permit gun carrying rather than prohibiting it.
• 🚫 This challenges the historical norm where individuals could carry firearms on private property unless explicitly told otherwise.
• ⚖️ A circuit split exists between the Second and Ninth Circuits on the constitutionality of such laws, highlighting the difficulty in applying the Bruen test to modern regulations.
• 🔑 The debate centers on whether historical laws regarding private property and firearms can support this new legislative approach.
• 🏢 While challenges to bans in