BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- U.S. Supreme Court justices will conference on June 6 to decide if they will hear a legal challenge to New York State’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act this fall.

The case, Antonyuk v. James, is one that has been playing out even prior to Oct. 2022 when St. Lawrence County Attorney Steve Button began his work of counsel. St. Lawrence County legislators approved his involvement in the case, saying the lawsuit could have a direct impact on the rights of citizens in the county.

Attorneys with GOA submitted a petition for writ of certiorari on Feb. 20, challenging the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA), which was passed "in direct retribution" for the Supreme Court overturning New York's 109-year-old concealed carry laws.

A writ of certiorari is the primary means to petition the court for a review of a case.

According to Button, GOA attorneys Stephen Stamboulieh and Erich Pratt have made strong legal arguments that he feels will compel the court to hear the case.

"Both are great attorneys and true constitutionalists that have made a strong argument, not only for the case to be heard but also for the courts to eventually overturn portions, if not the entirety of the CCIA," Button said.

Under the CCIA, state legislators and Governor Kathy Hochul passed multiple laws that created new requirements to obtain a concealed carry license and governed firearm ownership in general, including a 16-hour course with two hours of range time, an extensive list of spaces where firearms are prohibited, the requirement to disclose all social media information to law enforcement, the requirement to disclose all firearms and persons in the home, along with a “good moral character” clause that gave licensing officers broad discretion of what constitutes “good moral character.”

The Antonyuk case is one that has been hotly contested for the last year and a half, with Northern District Court Justice Glenn T. Suddaby largely ruling it to be unconstitutional, including provisions that required advanced training, further disclosure of personal information when applying, as well as the "good moral character" clause.

Following Suddaby's ruling, New York Attorney General Letitia James appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which largely upheld the CCIA.

That ruling meant that applicants hoping to obtain a concealed carry license will no longer have to provide their social media profile information and those with permits will be allowed to conceal carry in houses of worship and on private property by default.

That decision came down in December, leading GOA to petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

All other provisions remain intact while the appeal is considered.

Now with a reply brief filed with the court, Button said the justices will conference in the next week or so to decide on whether they will hear the case.

Only four justices have to agree to hear the case for it to be on the docket.

Button said if that happens, oral arguments will be heard either late this fall or in early winter.

That timeline would mean that a final ruling would likely come a year or so from now.

"We feel we have a strong legal argument that validates our opinion that the CCIA is unconstitutional and should be struck in its entirety," Button said.

If the justices decide to hear the Antonyuk case it would likely be part of a docket that includes a number of other cases, including VanDerStok v. Garland, which challenges the ATF's "frame or receiver rule," as well as Mock v. Garland, the Firearm Policy Coalition's legal challenge to the ATF's pistol brace rule that reclassified firearms utilizing the devices as short barreled rifles and shotguns. Under federal law, such firearms would require additional background checks, including a $200 tax stamp and fingerprinting, to legally possess. Such items are illegal to possess in New York State.

The showdown in the Supreme Court would be the culmination of an intense legal battle between state officials and gun rights advocates, which ramped up with the Dec. 8 ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the majority of the CCIA.

“Today's decision to permit the state to enforce critical provisions of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act as the court process moves forward will help keep New Yorkers safe. This commonsense law was enacted to keep guns out of dangerous hands and away from schools, hospitals, parks, public transportation, and other sensitive locations. My office will continue to defend New York’s gun laws and use every tool to protect New Yorkers from senseless gun violence,” Attorney General Letitia James said following the announcement on Dec. 8.

Officials with GOA called the decision a modest rebuke of Albany.

“Governor Hochul and her cabal in Albany never seem to get the message, and in turn, GOA is proud to have played a major role in rebuking her unconstitutional law. Nevertheless, this was not a total victory, and we will continue the fight until this entire law is sent to the bowels of history where it belongs," GOA Vice President Erich Pratt said at the time.