New Jersey’s acting Attorney General, Jennifer Davenport, sent a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit urging it not to rule in favor of pro-2A plaintiffs who are challenging New Jersey’s bans on “assault weapons” and “large capacity magazines.”
The April 24 letter cites the recent April 22 reversal of the pro-2A decision in Benson from the D.C. Appeals court and its order to rehear the case en banc, as requested by the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
New Jersey’s Davenport pleads with the court to avoid a decision that departs from that of its sister circuits, writing, “This Court should reach the same conclusion as its six sister circuits: New Jersey’s assault weapons and LCM laws are constitutional,” referring to the combined case of ANJRPC/Cheeseman/Ellman v. Platkin challenging such.
The challenge to New Jersey’s AWB/LCM ban was reheard on October 14, 2025, by a Third Circuit whose composition is tilting conservative, with newly appointed judges who have shown pro-2A inclinations. New Jersey clearly does not see a favorable outcome due to its flood of communications to the court urging it to uphold the ban, including its October 15 reply brief.
This is also the same case in which the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet K. Dhillon, filed an amicus brief in defense of Second Amendment rights in general, and in particular in favor of AR-15 ownership, one of the first-ever such briefs by the DOJ.
The ANJRPC v. Platkin case has national implications, as a decision that falls on the side of 2A rights would render a split circuit and put the case on a trajectory towards the Supreme Court, which has indicated it “presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next term or two,” according to Justice Kavanaugh, in June of 2025.
