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FOR REHEARING ON GUN CONTROL RULING
9th Circuit denies PTSA’s request
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the Tanapag Middle School Parent Teacher Student Association’s motion to file a rehearing petition in connection with its request to intervene to appeal in the lawsuit filed by U.S. Navy veteran David J. Radich and his wife, who successfully challenged the constitutionality of the CNMI gun control law.
Ninth Circuit judges A. Wallace Tashima, William A. Fletcher, and Andrew D. Hurwitz denied Tanapag Middle School PTSA’s petition for panel rehearing and the petition for rehearing en banc.
An en banc refers to a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of the court. A panel hearing is heard before the court’s selected judges.
Tashima, Fletcher, and Hurwitz voted to deny the petition for panel rehearing.
The judges said no judge requested a vote on en banc rehearing.
Last July, the Ninth Circuit affirmed U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona’s ruling that denied Tanapag Middle School PTSA’s motion to intervene.
The Ninth Circuit judges concluded that the Tanapag Middle School PTSA lacks standing to intervene. Therefore, the Ninth Circuit judges said, Manglona did not err in denying PTSA’s motion to intervene.
The PTSA wants the Ninth Circuit to reverse Manglona’s order that denied its motion to intervene in the Radich couple’s lawsuit.
In her March 28, 2016, ruling, Manglona declared unconstitutional the CNMI gun control law that prohibits all residents from obtaining handguns for self-defense purposes.
In response, the CNMI passed Public Law 19-42, SAFE Act, which removes the ban on possession of handguns and establishes new rules for transporting and using firearms.
The PTSA then filed a motion to intervene for purposes of appeal in the Radich couple’s lawsuit.
