Seegars vs Ashcroft: Countdown to the Court Hearing

There are only a few days remaining before the scheduled appeals court hearing in Seegars v Ashcroft, the NRA's lawsuit challenging the DC gun ban. I've dug up the documents, and I'm going to be bringing you my analysis of what has been submitted to the court. I've arranged with another interested party to guest-blog the hearing itself -- more on that when the time comes.

The good news: we're not talking lightweight stuff here. There are multiple legal briefs running over 70 pages filed by both sides, along with a number of amicus curae documents -- including the Violence Policy Center, which may be a friend of the court but is hardly a friend of ours.

The bad news: obtaining legal documents is not cheap. I'm putting up a tip jar specifically for the purpose of obtaining legal documents in this and similar cases. Funds deposited there will help me reimburse volunteers who provide their time and money to get the information out. My time and opinion are free; access to the documents isn't. There are some available from the court that I can't get access to otherwise.

So if you like the articles I'll be posting on this case, please remember to drop something in the tip jar. The more than the tip jar can collect, the more documents I make available or analyze on your behalf.

I'll be listing the articles I post on this topic below. The first set uses freely-available documents.

1. Parker vs DC: The Origins of Seegars vs Ashcroft
2. Seegars v Ashcroft: The Complaint
3. Seegars v Ashcroft: The NRA seeks consolidation
4. Seegars v Ashcroft: Oral Arguments

UPDATE: Here's the second batch of free documents, along with a great big thanks to the person who chipped in a very respectable amount to help out.

1. Seegars v Ashcroft: There can be only one... with Standing
2. Seegars v Ashcroft: A Collective Right?
3. Seegars v Ashcroft: Does the 2nd Amendment reach the Capital?

The first batch of expensive documents will be posted early Wednesday morning, just in time for the arguments. Actually, in this case, my analysis will be posted without the original source documents; the source for this batch claims copyright to their reproduction but not to the originals, which means I can't simply post them raw. Silly, but not worth the legal dust-up over it.

UPDATE: Here's the first batch of purchased documents, and a note on the legislative remedy.

1. Seegars v Ashcroft: The Legislative Remedy
2. Seegars v Ashcroft: Amici from the States
3. Seegars v Ashcroft: The Brief of the United States

UPDATE: My contact at the hearing has filed a preliminary report.

UPDATE: Please welcome guest-blogger George Lyon, a very distinguished guest who is putting a great deal of time and effort into advancing our right to arms. He was the source of the preliminary report earlier today, and right now he brings us his eyewitness account and analysis of the Seegars v Ashcroft court hearing.

UPDATE: Tonight's document is the NRA brief, plus the two reports from the courtroom.

1. Seegars v Ashcroft: The Brief of the NRA

Two more documents today. These are the last of the Seegars v Ashcroft documents that I was able to obtain, and I think it brings us up to date with the court. Hopefully a transcript will be posted of the hearing, and if so, I will try to get my hands on it.

1. Seegars v Ashcroft: The Brief of the District of Columbia
2. Seegars v Ashcroft: The Brady Amici