I believe the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The 5th Circuit is known for decisions that lean heavily conservative, especially with respect to business, commerce, the environment and corporate interests. Lately, it’s been the appeals court most overturned by the Supreme Court, despite court scholars claiming the current makeup of the Supreme Court also leans heavily conservative. So it’ll be interesting to see if and how this case ends up if the Supreme Court decides to take it up on appeal.
Also of note is that the 5th Circuit kept alive the defendant’s charge of a straw purchase for her husband, who appears to be prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a past conviction if I’m reading it right.
So the 5th Circuit rejected the facial challenges to the drug user and transfer to drug user prohibitions; but they upheld the as-applied challenge to the drug user prohibition, because the owner wasn’t under the influence at the time.
This would hopefully open the door to overturning the prohibition on those who checked themselves into inpatient care for depression. If they are not depressed or mentally ill at the time they possess the gun years after the episode, their rights should be restored, too.
