By Dave Workman
The media is calling it “an unusual step” after Harmeet Dhillon, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, showed up in Chicago to argue in support of the Second Amendment, and against a ban on so-called “assault weapons” in Illinois before a three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Dhillon believes the ban is unconstitutional, as noted by Fox News in Chicago.
Published reports say Dhillon appeared before the court “for about five minutes.” She was there essentially supporting a ruling from November 2024 by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen McGlynn that the Illinois ban is unconstitutional. His 168-page decision may be read here.
Speaking to the court, Dhillon stated, “The United States has a strong interest in ensuring that the Second Amendment is not relegated to a second-class right and that all the law-abiding citizens of this circuit remain able to enjoy the full exercise of their Second Amendment rights as binding Supreme Court precedent requires.”
The Chicago Sun Times called the gun ban a “signature achievement of Gov. JB Pritzker,” a Democrat who some believe is considering a run for the presidency in 2028. The sweeping statute bans the sale of ASR-15 rifles and similar long guns, plus rifle magazines that hold more than 10 cartridges and pistol magazines holding more than 15 rounds. Pritzker signed the law in 2023, and it was quickly challenged by multiple lawsuits.
According to Politico, the fact Dhillon was allowed to speak during the hearing, “in a case the federal government isn’t involved in — signals how far the Trump administration will go to challenge Illinois’ efforts to regulate firearms.”
Politico said if the 7th Circuit upholds the Illinois ban, “gun-rights groups are expected to push for the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The Chicago Tribune noted in its coverage a split in the opinions of federal courts in Illinois. While Judge McGlynn, in the southern district, ruled the law is unconstitutional, the newspaper said a federal court in the northern district “previously ruled a similar ban was legally sound.”
According to the Sun Times, the 7th Circuit panel consisted of judges Michael Brennan, Amy St. Eve and Frank Easterbrook. Brennan, who dissented on an earlier ruling which sided with Gov. Pritzker “finding that the weapons covered by the law don’t have Second Amendment protection because they “are much more like machine guns and military-grade weaponry” than like other firearms used for self-defense.”
Brennan and St. Eve are Donald Trump appointees while Easterbrook is a Ronald Reagan appointee. Easterbrook was part of the earlier panel, along with Judge Diane Wood, who wrote the majority opinion in that case.
It is not clear when the panel will issue a decision.
