BELLEVUE, WA – A federal judge in the Northern Mariana Islands has soundly rejected an attempt by a local school’s parent-teacher association to intervene in the Second Amendment Foundation’s successful challenge of a Commonwealth handgun prohibition because the case was already decided and the legislature has already replaced the unconstitutional statute.
“This was a clear victory for our cause on behalf of David and Li-Rong Radich,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The case has already been decided, the gun ban was struck down as unconstitutional, and as a result, the challenge is moot.”
That is essentially what Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona said in her seven-page ruling. Noting that the “provisions challenged in this lawsuit no longer exist,” Judge Manglona wrote, “When the Commonwealth legislature repealed the law at the heart of this lawsuit, it rendered moot the case or controversy subject to judicial decision, and essentially made the scope of…gun control a political matter. Because there is no longer anything to appeal, (the) motion to intervene is denied.”
The Tanapag Middle School Parent Teacher Student Association had attempted to intervene as defendants in the lawsuit back in April. The SAF action had challenged the Commonwealth’s handgun ban on constitutional grounds and won, after which lawmakers moved swiftly to change the law.
“We are delighted that Judge Manglona essentially agreed with all of our legal points against this attempt to intervene,” Gottlieb said. “Thanks to arguments of our legal team in the Northern Mariana’s case, led by Illinois attorney David Sigale, the judge squelched what appears to have been a frivolous action. It’s time to move on and file our next legal action to continue to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”