District of Columbia vs. Heller 128 S.Ct. 2783
Uploaded by rapp2043 on Feb 10, 2009
Review of Appellate History and Court Dispositions
The United States Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller was an appeal arising from the case Parker v. District of Columbia, whereby the Circuit Court of Appeals for District of Columbia held appellate jurisdiction. However, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia possessed original jurisdiction in the Parker case, and for that reason it is also where the case originated. In district court case, the court’s disposition held that Shelly Parker’s (the respondent) Complaint should be dismissed and the District’s (the petitioners) Motion to Dismiss should be granted. The respondent then appealed, whereby certiorari was granted by the circuit court of appeals and a disposition in favor of the respondent was returned. The court further held that the respondent of record (Shelly Parker) had no standing and that the only respondent who had standing was Dick Anthony Heller. Petitioners then brought their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, whereby Heller was the respondent of record.
Statement of Facts
Since 1976 the petitioners have denied citizens within the jurisdiction of the district the right to lawfully possess functioning firearms within their homes. The petitioners have also placed a permanent prohibition for possessing a handgun not registered prior to 1976 within the district. However, long guns (i.e. shotguns and rifles) that are lawfully registered within the city might be possessed, so long as they remain either disassembled or bound by a trigger lock. Even with these weapons bound or disassembled, the resident may not lawfully move the weapon about within the home, nor lawfully reassemble the weapon and use it in the course defending one’s own self nor his/her own family.
At the time the litigation began, the respondent, Dick Anthony Heller, was employed by the petitioners as a special police officer at the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judicial Center. In the course of his employment, the respondent was entrusted by the petitioners to carry a loaded handgun for the protection of the judicial building and its employees. However, when the respondent left the building to go home everyday the petitioners required the respondent to be disarmed. Even when the respondent applied to register a handgun in accordance with the district’s application procedures, he was denied the registration, pursuant to the petitioner’s total prohibition on private handgun possession.
The respondent was also informed by the petitioners that if he attempted...