''Presser v. Illinois'', 116 U.S. 252 (1886), was a
landmark decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States that held, "Unless restrained by their own constitutions, state legislatures may enact statutes to control and regulate all organizations, drilling, and parading of military bodies and associations except those which are authorized by the militia laws of the United States."
[. ] It states that the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution limited only the power of Congress and the national government to control firearms, not that of the states, and that the right to peaceably assemble in the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...
was not protected by the clause referred to except to petition the government for a redress of grievances. This decision was overruled in ''
McDonald v. City of Chicago'' in (2010).
Background
In this 1886 case, Herman Presser was part of a citizen militia group, the ''
Lehr und Wehr Verein
The ''Lehr und Wehr Verein'' ("Educational and Defense Society") was a socialist military organization founded in 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. The group had been formed to counter the armed private armies of companies in Chicago.
The ''Lehr und W ...
'' (Instruct and Defend Association), a group of armed ethnic
German workers, associated with the
Socialist Labor Party
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
. The group had been formed to counter the
armed private armies of companies in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
Basically, Presser, Presser claimed the law violated his rights under the Second Amendment.
Decision
In ''Presser v. Illinois'', the Supreme Court stated:
In ''Presser'', the Court reaffirmed its 1876 decision in ''
Cruikshank'' that the Second Amendment acts as a limitation upon only the federal government and not the states. ''Cruikshank'' and ''Presser'' are consistently used by the lower courts to deny any recognition of individual rights claims and provides justification to state and local municipalities to pass laws that regulate guns.
However, the Court stated that there is a limit upon state restriction of firearms ownership in that they may not disarm the people to such an extent that there is no remaining armed militia force for the general government to call upon:
The Court emphatically disposed of Presser's argument that there exists a right to assemble, drill, or march in a militia independent of authorization by state or federal law:
Analysis
The traditional reading of ''Presser'' is that it affirms the states' rights view articulated in ''Cruikshank''. Modern supporters of the individual rights view have challenged this claim, viewing the case as affirming a
right to keep and bear arms as a necessary condition to have a universal militia. The conflict between the viewpoints was argued in court in 1982 in the case of ''
Quilici v. Village of Morton Grove
Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 25,297.
The village is named after former United States Vice President Levi Parsons Morton, who helped finance the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail ...
'' in which the
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:
* Central District of Illinois
* Northern District of ...
held:
See also
*''
United States v. Cruikshank'',
*''
District of Columbia v. Heller''
*''
Nordyke v. King
''Nordyke v. King'' was a case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in which a ban of firearms on all public property and whether the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, Second Amendment should be applied to ...
''
*''
McDonald v. Chicago''
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{US2ndAmendment
History of Chicago
Incorporation case law
Socialist Labor Party of America
United States Freedom of Assembly Clause case law
United States Second Amendment case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Waite Court
1886 in United States case law