Rep. Andrew Clyde (R) is leading a coalition of House Republicans in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court of the United States to rule that bans on the AR-15 and similar rifles are unconstitutional.
On June 30, 2026, Breitbart News noted that SCOTUS agreed to hear Grant v. Higgins, which will center on whether AR-15 ownership is protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. A second case, consolidated with Grant v. Higgins, is Viramontes v. Cook County, a case which centers on Cook County’s “assault weapons” ban.
The cases come to SCOTUS after lower courts upheld bans on the firearms, and via the House amicus brief Clyde and his fellow Republicans are urging SCOTUS to overrule the lower courts and declare such bans unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
Clyde told Breitbart News, “Much to gun-grabbing Democrats’ dismay, the Second Amendment is abundantly clear. ‘Shall not be infringed’ is not a suggestion, regardless of the firearm in question. Semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s, are owned by millions of law-abiding Americans, as it is well within our constitutional rights to do so.”
He added, “As an unapologetic voice in the fight to protect and restore our Second Amendment liberties, I’m proud to lead this amicus effort, and I’m confident the Supreme Court will declare these bans … what they are: blatantly unconstitutional.”
The amicus brief points to Miller (1939) and Heller (2008) predominantly, but also references the Federalist Papers, the Militia Act of 1792, the Militia Act of 1903, George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, excerpts from the commentaries of William Blackstone, and the plain language of the Second Amendment, among other things.
It concludes thus:
The [Second Amendment] protects, at minimum, arms that are in common use for lawful purposes and that bear a reasonable relationship to the citizen-militia tradition the clause celebrates. Military small arms that meet the common-use test, of which the AR-15 is a quintessential example, must therefore sit near the heart of the right, not outside it.”
The American Center for Law & Justice joins the 60+ Republican House members in support of the brief.
The participating House members are Jodey Arrington (TX-19), Brian Babin (TX-36), James R. Baird (IN-04), Nicholas J. Begich III (AK), Sheri Biggs (SC-03), Lauren Boebert (CO-04), Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Tim Burchett (TN-02), Eric Burlison (MO-07), Ben Cline (VA-06), Michael Cloud (TX-27), Mike Collins (GA-10), Eli Crane (AZ-02), Warren Davidson (OH-08), Scott DesJarlais (TN-04), Troy Downing (MT-02), Chuck Edwards (NC-11), Julie Fedorchak (ND), Randy Fine (FL-06), Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann (TN-03), Russell Fry (SC-07), Russ Fulcher (ID-01), Brandon Gill (TX-26), Paul A. Gosar (AZ-09), H. Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Michael Guest (MS-03), Pat Harrigan (NC-10), Andy Harris (MD-01), Mark Harris (NC-08), Diana Harshbarger (TN-01), Kevin Hern (OK-01), Clay Higgins (LA-03), Erin Houchin (IN-09), Wesley P. Hunt (TX-38), Brian Jack (GA-03), Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), Nancy Mace (SC-01), Tracey Mann (KS-01), Thomas Massie (KY-04), Tom McClintock (CA-05), Rich McCormick (GA-07), Addison McDowell (NC-06), John McGuire (VA-05), Mary E. Miller (IL-15), Barry Moore (AL-01), Riley M. Moore (WV-02), Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Ralph Norman (SC-05),
Bob Onder (MO-03), Scott Perry (PA-10), Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14), John Rose (TN-06), Chip Roy (TX-21), Michael A. Rulli (OH-06), John H. Rutherford
(FL-05), Keith Self (TX-03), Jefferson Shreve (IN-06), Adrian Smith (NE-03), David J. Taylor (OH-02), Claudia Tenney (NY-24), Beth Van Duyne (TX-24), and Derrick Van Orden (WI-03).
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].
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