U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, led a bicameral appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting it to uphold American sovereignty in a $10 billion lawsuit brought by Mexico blaming U.S. gun manufacturers for cartel gun violence in Mexico.
The bicameral appeal was made in concert with one by a coalition of 28 state attorneys general, The Center Square reported.
At issue is a 2022 lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against U.S. gun manufacturers arguing they are responsible for Mexican cartel crime in Mexico. A federal judge in Massachusetts dismissed the lawsuit. Mexico then appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled last year that it’s claim fell within an exception to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005.
When the case was before the First Circuit, Cruz led a bicameral appeal, filing an amicus brief with three U.S. senators and 35 U.S. House members. Like the AGs, they argued the PLCAA protects businesses that sell firearms from being held liable for harm caused by criminals who abuse them. Mexico argues an exception in the law enables it to hold liable American gun manufacturers and distributors for cartel gun crime.
But “Mexico’s arguments in this lawsuit don’t hold water, which is why the suit was thrown out in the district court,” Cruz argued in the First Circuit brief. “In sum, what the government of Mexico is trying to do is impose its own interpretation of American law on American businesses. This demonstrates a disregard for our Constitution and in particular, our Second Amendment. They’re also ignoring the fact that Congress has exercised its authority by passing the law in question here, the … PLCAA, and the fact that the United States is a sovereign nation.”
After the First Circuit ruled in favor of Mexico, 27 AGs, led by Montana, appealed in June to the Supreme Court to throw out the case. Cruz also led 10 senators and 14 House members in another amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court requesting it to grant certiorari.
On Tuesday, Cruz led another coalition of 16 U.S. senators and 22 House members, petitioning the Supreme Court again.
Mexico’s lawsuit “seeks to trample on our Constitution,” Cruz said. “I look forward to the Supreme Court ending this madness, putting an end to Mexico’s assault on our Second Amendment, and sending a clear message that American sovereignty will not be eroded by any country.”
The lawsuit has unified a large group of people “as almost as never before,” said U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, who is leading the U.S. House coalition. “This is a landmark legal question and weighs whether to allow foreign governments to violate American sovereignty, bankrupt our firearms industry with lawfare, and undermine our Second Amendment rights. Today, we reaffirm our commitment to our constitutional freedoms. Our cause will prevail.”
“Mexico’s lawsuit is an affront to the sovereignty of the United States of America,” the brief states. “It has no place in federal court, and it attempts to coerce American courts to subvert the policy determinations of the political branches of the U.S. Government. A nation’s authority on its own soil is virtually absolute. Congress exercised that authority in passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. … Mexico’s suit disregards those legal principles, trying to impose its own foreign view of liability protection law and the right to bear arms on the American people.
“Mexico’s suit attempts to impose the laws of that foreign nation upon the citizens and companies of this nation. This is ironic, given that Mexico’s Constitution also provides its citizens the right to possess firearms in their residences for self-defense. But that nominal right is a pale shadow of its American counterpart, subject to severe restrictions, coupled with the fact that there is only a single gun store in Mexico. That nation’s laws and tradition of the right to own firearms bear little resemblance to that of our own.”
They also note that the district court “properly rejected Mexico’s arguments that because its alleged injuries occurred outside the United States and because it is a foreign-sovereign plaintiff, PLCAA was categorically inapplicable to this lawsuit.”
In August, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston again dismissed the case, this time against six of eight U.S. companies named in the lawsuit. He ruled Mexico didn’t provide concrete evidence to prove that their operations in Massachusetts had any connection to cartel gun violence in Mexico.
In October, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear the case.
