Current litigation by ISRA and other organizations and important past cases
Last update: 6/16/2025
Current litigation by ISRA and other organizations and important past casesLast update: 6/16/2025
12/5/2024: This is a case filed in response to the PICA act (Illinois Semi-auto ban, magazine and accessory ban) In Federal Court for the Illinois Southern District, Judge Stephen P. McGlynn issues a ruling finding for the plaintiffs, the PICA is unconstitutional (click here for the PDF, 168 pages). The conclusion is on page 167. The case had a 30 day stay, which the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has extended indefinitely. It is likely that the case will get appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court.
6/6/2025: Appellees’ Briefs filed. The brief for the Harrel case (The ISRA as named organizational plaintiff) is available here in pdf format.
6/13/2025: The US Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the challenge against the PICA gun ban. That brief is available here in pdf format.
This is a case regarding the state’s ban on CCW on public transportation. Plaintiffs are are Benjamin Schoenthal, Mark Wroblewski, Joseph Vesel and Douglas Winston. They are all residents of counties in northern Illinois in the greater Chicago area and are represented by attorney David Sigale of Wheaton.
The plaintiffs received a favorable ruling on 8/30/2024 (PDF here), and the defendants, Illinois Attorney General and State’s Attorneys from the impacted counties, appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs submitted a response brief on 3/14/2025 (PDF here).
Synopsis: Plaintiffs seek to enjoin several provisions of the Firearm Dealer License Certification Act because they are vague and burdensome, especially to smaller retailers. Status: The filing of an amended complaint has been pending since 2020. The ISRA has filed a motion to amend the complaint following the enactment of Emergency Rules. The plaintiffs have a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the law. Status: The filing of an amended complaint has been pending since 2020.
This is a foster parent and home daycare case. If you have a daycare home, and/or are a foster parent, the Department of Children and Family Services will only allow you to have a firearm if it is unloaded and in a safe. Also, if you have a daycare home you cannot possess a handgun at all. They also have the right to inspect without notice. This case is in ongoing discovery.
Vivian Brown had a single shot .22 rifle in her home for self-defense. She had no FOID card. A White County Court ruled the FOID unconstitutional in the home. The State filed a direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. The Court heard arguments on the case in September, 2019. April 2, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court has remanded this case back to the White County Circuit Court. The Illinois State Supreme Court cites issues of constitutional and non-constitutional factors. The case returned to the Illinois Supreme Court, which dismissed the case, declining to rule on the constitutionality of the FOID Act and remanded it back to White County court yet again on 6/16/2022.
This is a case filed in federal court in the Southern District of Illinois on 5/27/2021 challenging Illinois’ ban on carry for those that are 18, 19 and 20 years of age. Linked here is a copy of the amended complaint from 10/18/2022. Several courts have ruled that at the age of 18, Second Amendment rights are fully vested.
Special note: This case was filed 4 years ago and it is still in the Southern District court. When plaintiffs reach 21 years old, they “time out” because they then become eligible for getting their own Illinois Conceal Carry License. Therefore, new individual plaintiffs are needed so that they can be added to the case. If you or any one you know is willing and able to be a plaintiff in this case and has a FOID card, please contact the ISRA attorney, David Sigale. His email is dsigale@sigalelaw.com.
This is a case filed in federal court in the Southern District on 11/25/2022 challenging Illinois’ ban on suppressors. On December 9, 2022 the judge referred the case to mediation and scheduled a trial for June 17, 2024. Neither party wants mediation, it’s an all or nothing viewpoint on both sides.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020, the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to force the Illinois State Police (ISP) to comply with the mandated 30-day requirement to issue a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) Card if the applicant meets all qualifications.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on behalf of D’Andre Bradley, David D. Moore and Tara D. Moore, and Brett O. Shelton. They are represented by attorneys David G. Sigale of Wheaton, Ill., Gregory A. Bedell of Chicago, and Jacob Huebert of Phoenix, Ariz. The case is supported by the Goldwater Institute. The lawsuit is known as Bradley v. Kelly.
Named as defendants are ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly and ISP Firearms Services Bureau Chief Jessica Trame, in their official capacities.
The law requires that the Illinois State Police either approve or deny a FOID card application within 30 days, but ISP has been dragging its feet, leaving applicants in limbo for months. In some cases, the agency does not act for as long as 90 days. These delays have gone on long enough. We had hoped to avoid litigation, but at this moment, we have no choice.
When the United States Supreme Court ruled on District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 that Washington DC’s total ban on handguns and its strict firearms storage laws violated the right to possess firearms as protected by the Second Amendment; however. it was left unclear if that ruling was limited to the federal government, since Washington DC falls under federal jurisdiction, or if the ruling applied to state governments under the Fourteenth Amendment.
In 2010, the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation sponsored litigation on behalf of Otis McDonald and three other Chicago residents to affirm that state and local governments cannot infringe on the right to “keep and bear arms” as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
On June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor that the Second Amendment is incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment, extending the DC v. Heller ruling to apply nationwide, and ending Chicago’s practice of banning handguns by refusing to process registrations.
A federal case, Ezell v. City of Chicago (10 C 5135) and a follow-up case, commonly called Ezell II. The first case challenged Chicago’s live-fire training requirement under Chicago’s post-McDonald Chicago Firearms Permit, as publicly-accessible firearms ranges for qualification were prohibited under other city regulations.
Chicago’s municipal code prohibited public firing ranges within the city. After Ezell I, the city replaced its range ban with a complicated set of zoning ordinances which amounted to nearly the same thing.
The range ban and the subsequent set of zoning ordinances which amount to the same thing violate not only the right to train at a range, but also the core Second Amendment right to possess firearms for self-defense.
These cases were wins for ISRA, SAF, the gun owners of Illinois and Rhonda Ezell.
Capitalizing on its federal appeals court victory in Ezell v. City of Chicago, the Second Amendment Foundation moved for a preliminary injunction against the State of Illinois to prevent further enforcement of that state’s prohibitions on firearms carry in public by law-abiding citizens.
This is a pair of cases combined to brought CCW to Illinois by suing under 2A grounds in federal court: 1. Moore v. Madigan, the plaintiffs were SAF, Illinois Carry and four private citizens, Michael Moore, Charles Hooks, Peggy Fechter and Jon Maier. 2. Shepard v. Madigan, with SAF, ISRA, and Mary Shepard.
The case was ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on 12/11/2012, in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the state did not try to take the case to the US Supreme Court.
New York State law required applicants for a pistol concealed carry license to show “proper cause”, or a special need distinguishable from that of the general public, in their application.
In a 6–3 decision issued in June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the ability to bear arms in public was a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. The Court ruled that states are allowed to enforce “shall-issue” permitting, where applicants for concealed carry permits must satisfy certain objective criteria, such as passing a background check, but that “may-issue” systems that use “arbitrary” evaluations of need made by local authorities are unconstitutional.
A case brought against Cook County, challenging its “Assault Weapon” ban. Originally filed in 2007, the case went twice to the Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court. Following the Friedman decision, the case was dismissed and refiled. The refiled case was removed to the Federal Court. The District Court and Seventh Circuit declined Plaintiffs’ efforts to distinguish this case from Friedman, and dismissed/affirmed the dismissal of the Plaintiffs’ Complaint. A Petition of a Writ of Certiorari before the United States Supreme Court was denied on 6/15/2020.
The City of Highland Park has an ordinance that prohibits possession of so-called “assault weapons” or magazines that can accept more than ten rounds. Arie Friedman, who lives in Highland Park, owned a banned rifle and several large-capacity magazines before the ordinance took effect, and he wants to own these items again; likewise other members of the Illinois State Rifle Association living in Highland Park asked the district court to enjoin enforcement of the ordinance, arguing that it violates the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
The District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted summary judgment to Highland Park. A divided panel of the Seventh Circuit affirmed the judgement. On December 7, 2015, the US Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari.
Kevin Culp is a now-retired Colonel in the United States Air Force who was, until recently, on temporary duty in Illinois. Because he is not an Illinois resident, he cannot get an Illinois Concealed Carry License (ICCL). The case went through the Federal court and the Federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals with a ruling againsts the plaintiff on 4/12/2020. A Certiorari Petition to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) was denied 6/15/2020. A Certiorari Petition means that we asked the United States Supreme Court to hear our case. It does not mean that the SCOTUS heard the case and made a ruling.
Thousands of Illinois FOID card holders have appealed the denial or revocation of their FOID cards and have not had those FOID cards returned, despite obvious situations where the restoration should have been quickly processed. In part, this problem stems from the more than $29,500,000 which was swept from the funds which prevented hiring the personnel and purchasing equipment which would fix the problem. Case last status was 4/3/2023: case is voluntarily dismissed with prejudice, with each side to bear its own costs. Stipulation of Dismissal by plaintiffs (PDF).
Mr. White lives in Chicago. He has a FOID card and has never done anything wrong but cannot get an ICCL, mainly because he is on the Chicago gang database list. He is not and has never been a gang member. The only thing he has done wrong is grow up in a bad neighborhood. This federal case went up to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, where it was dismissed on 10/6/2021.
This is an assault weapons law preemption case. State law preempts local Municipals from passing firearm ordinances. Deerfield defied state law. The case was combined with a similar case filed by GSL and John Wombacher III. The trial court ruled in the Plaintiffs’ favor and struck down the ordinance as a violation of State law. This case was appealed to the Second Appellate District, where on December 7, 2020, it was affirmed in part and dismissed in part.
A few years ago, an Illinois Appellate Court ruled that those who sought relief for their denied or revoked FOID cards could never get such relief because of the way the law was written. So, Alfred Evans Jr., a man with some youthful mistakes, but now a fine family man and business owner, could not get his FOID application denial reversed, even though the Appellate Court said it would do so if the law were not written in such a way that its hands were tied.
David Sigale, with co-counsel Bryant Chavez and the support of the ISRA, litigated Mr. Evans’ case in the Illinois Supreme Court to get his wrongful interpretation of Illinois law reversed, so that Mr. Evans and other deserving individuals like him can fully enjoy their Second Amendment rights.
This effort was unsuccessful, the court affirmed the appellate court ruling on 9/2/2021.
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