Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-280_ba7d.pdf
Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 18–280 
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NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, 
INC., ET AL., PETITIONERS v. CITY OF 
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT 

[April 27, 2020] 

JUSTICE ALITO, with whom JUSTICE GORSUCH joins, and
with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins except for Part IV–B, dis-
senting. 

By  incorrectly  dismissing  this  case  as  moot,  the  Court 
permits our docket to be manipulated in a way that should
not  be  countenanced.    Twelve  years  ago  in  District  of  Co-
lumbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. 570 (2008), we held that the Sec-
ond Amendment protects the right of ordinary Americans 
to  keep  and  bear  arms.  Two  years  later,  our  decision  in 
McDonald  v.  Chicago,  561  U. S.  742  (2010),  established
that this right is fully applicable to the States.  Since then, 
the  lower  courts  have  decided  numerous  cases  involving
Second Amendment challenges to a variety of federal, state, 
and local laws.  Most have failed.  We have been asked to 
review many of these decisions, but until this case, we de-
nied all such requests. 

On January 22, 2019, we granted review to consider the 
constitutionality  of  a  New  York  City  ordinance  that  bur-
dened the right recognized in Heller.  Among other things,
the ordinance prohibited law-abiding New Yorkers with a 
license to keep a handgun in the home (a “premises license”)
from taking that weapon to a firing range outside the City.
Instead, premises licensees wishing to gain or maintain the 
ability to use their weapons safely were limited to the seven