United States v. Givens, 2:24-cr-00050

Defendant Courteau D. Givens was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).
Givens has four previous felony convictions for drug possession and resisting law enforcement.
Givens moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that § 922(g)(1) violates the Second Amendment in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
The court assumed, for the sake of argument, that the Second Amendment covers Givens’s conduct, proceeding directly to historical analysis as required by Bruen.
Both the Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit have not directly ruled on § 922(g)(1)’s post-Bruen constitutionality, and circuit decisions are split.
The court considered historical traditions and recent case law to determine whether the statute is consistent with the Second Amendment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Givens)	Defendant's Argument (Gov't)	Held
Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) under the Second Amendment	Statute infringes Second Amendment based on Bruen	Historical analogues show felons can be disarmed	§ 922(g)(1) is constitutional, facially and as applied

United States v. Coscia, 866 F.3d 782 (7th Cir. 2017) (Rule 12 allows legal challenges to indictments pretrial)
United States v. Sorich, 523 F.3d 702 (7th Cir. 2008) (Courts may decide constitutionality of a statute pretrial)
United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680 (2024) (Historical principles guide analysis of Second Amendment regulations)
Medina v. Whitaker, 913 F.3d 152 (D.C. Cir. 2019) (Convicted felons historically outside scope of Second Amendment protection)