US v. Nutter: Nutter was found in possession of firearms in spite of having three prior convictions that met the definition of “misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence” and was charged with a violation of 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(9). Pre-Bruen, Nutter moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that §922(g)(9) violated the Second Amendment. After the motion was denied, but prior to sentencing, Nutter renewed his motion after Bruen, but it was also denied. Nutter entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of Nutter’s motion to dismiss. The court started by noting that Nutter’s challenge could only be construed as a facial challenge, given his general attacks on §922(g)(9). Without more specific as applied arguments, Nutter was limited to the “most difficult challenge to mount successfully,” and could not prevail. Skipping directly to Bruen’s second step, the court concluded that there were “some circumstances in which §922(g)(9) is constitutional” – enough to survive a facial challenge. The court relied on Rahimi (which involved §922(g)(8)), finding that it’s basis for allowing disarmament there was sufficiently similar, even though the restriction in Rahimi was temporary.
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