High Court Allows Second Amendment Challenge Despite Guilty Plea

A man who pleaded guilty to possessing a gun on U.S. Capitol grounds can bring a Second Amendment challenge to the criminal law under which he was convicted, a divided Supreme Court held Feb. 21.

The rule announced by Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s majority opinion—that a guilty plea doesn’t automatically bar a constitutional challenge on direct appeal—applies not just to gun rights challenges but also to other cases resulting in guilty pleas, which is how nearly 95 percent of criminal cases are resolved.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan joined the majority in reversing a lower court, ...