The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on August 21 that the federal felon-in-possession law is constitutional when applied to a person who possessed a firearm while still under supervision for a felony sentence. The unanimous panel affirmed Garrick D. Richardson's conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Its holding covers defendants on noncustodial supervision, including probation, but does not decide whether lifetime disarmament remains constitutional after a sentence is fully completed.

The court chose a narrow ground

Section 922(g)(1) generally prohibits firearm possession by anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison. Richardson asked the court to strike the statute facially and as applied to him under the Supreme Court's text-and-history framework. The government defended the law more broadly. Judge Gregory Katsas, writing for the panel, declined both invitations. The court assumed for purposes of the case that the statute reaches conduct covered by the Second Amendment and that earlier D.C. Circuit precedent did not resolve the challenge.

Richardson had D.C. convictions for carrying a pistol without a license in 2018 and 2022. For the 2022 offense, the D.C. Superior Court imposed 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release, suspended that sentence, and substituted one year of supervised probation. Richardson acknowledged possessing a firearm on May 13, 2023, while that probation was still running. He later pleaded guilty to the federal charge while preserving his right to appeal, and the district court sentenced him to 40 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.