By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear Vera Montes v. Cook County, a case that challenges Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic rifles under the Protecting Illinois Communities Act. Coley Stimpson, a policy expert with the Heritage Foundation whose work focuses on crime policy and national security, previewed the case and the court’s broader term, predicting the justices will side against the state.
“Vera Montes is the big tamale that a lot of us have been waiting for,” Stimpson says. He expects the court to affirm a constitutional right to own an AR-15-style rifle and to reject Illinois’ public-safety defense of its ban. “The conservatives will bat that away like a fly at a garden party,” he says.
Stimpson, a former homicide prosecutor, argues that gun ownership is widespread enough among Americans that the court is unlikely to uphold the ban. “I think almost all of us think they’re going to uphold the right to keep and possess one.” He also pointed to the scale of gun violence nationally as part of the backdrop for the case.
Stimpson also discussed Chicago crime directly, saying some neighborhoods carry risks he compares to a war zone. “In your city, there are really nice places, and then there are little pockets where it’s more dangerous than at the height of the surge in Iraq or Afghanistan,” he says.
Stimpson previewed several other cases on the court’s docket this term. Suncor Energy v. Boulder, which concerns whether federal law preempts local climate-related lawsuits, is one case where he predicts the court will reject the local claims. St. Mary’s Catholic Parish v. Roy, a religious liberty dispute out of Colorado involving a preschool curriculum mandate, is another case where he expects the state to lose again. “Colorado has had a perfect record in front of the Supreme Court — they lose every time,” he says. “They’re like my Commanders football team.”
Stimpson highlighted Jalpy v. Alaska, an excessive-fines case involving an airplane used to fly commercial goods into a dry village, as a standalone illustration of government overreach. He also previewed Cayen v. Florida, over whether a 12-person jury is constitutionally required, predicting the court will side with the larger jury requirement, along with pending cases on voter citizenship verification and immigration detention timelines.
Stimpson has spent three decades working across military and civilian legal roles, including as a Navy JAG Corps officer and as a prosecutor handling violent felony cases, before joining Heritage in 2007. He says the court’s current term is shaping up as one of the most consequential in years for gun rights and the balance of power between federal and state law, particularly for Illinois, where a ruling against the state’s ban would have immediate effect.
