Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 5, 2025 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- June 5, 2025
- Term
- October Term 2024
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
PRELIMINARY PRINT Volume 605 U. S. Part 1 Pages 280–302 OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE SUPREME COURT June 5, 2025 Page Proof Pending Publication REBECCA A. WOMELDORF reporter of decisions NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. Syllabus SMITH & WESSON BRANDS, INC., et al. v. ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the rst circuit No. 23–1141. Argued March 4, 2025—Decided June 5, 2025 The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) bars certain lawsuits against manufacturers and sellers of frearms. As relevant, it provides that a “qualifed civil liability action . . . may not be brought in any Federal or State court,” 15 U. S. C. § 7902(a), and defnes that term to include a “civil action or proceeding” against a frearms manufacturer or seller stemming from “the criminal or unlawful misuse” of a frearm by “a third party,” § 7903(5)(A). But PLCAA's general bar on these suits has an exception, usually called the predicate exception, relevant here. That exception applies to lawsuits in which the defendant manu- facturer or seller “knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applica- ble to the sale or…
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