In a remarkable display of respect for judicial precedent, U.S. District Judge James Browning recently granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs in an important Second Amendment case, an outcome with which he disagreed.
Samuel Ortega and Rebecca Scott, represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, the National Rifle Association, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, sued to abolish the state’s controversial weeklong waiting period for all law-abiding state residents to take possession of a purchased firearm.
Judge abided by higher court decision in granting injunction
The plaintiffs succeeded in August 2025 when the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court order delaying the fundamental right to acquire a firearm when needed.
Now that injunction, which will protect only Ortega and Scott’s rights not to be forced to wait seven days to lawfully acquire a weapon, will remain in force.
Lawmakers enacted the Waiting Period Act in 2024, claiming a week was needed to complete the federal background check. Concealed carry license holders and law enforcement in New Mexico are exempt.
Interestingly, Browning previously held that waiting periods align with the nation’s historical tradition of gun regulation. He acknowledged that New Mexico’s seven-day requirement passed judicial muster in his first ruling, but the 10th Circuit later determined it likely does not.
States continue to try to circumvent Second Amendment rights
The judge told state officials that his lower court “has no power or authority to deviate” from clear instructions delivered by the more powerful court.
Browning refused to block the new state law in 2024. Now he is enjoining it, not because he agrees with the plaintiffs, but because a higher court found the waiting period unjust.
This is commendable and a far cry from the childish antics so many state and local governments displayed after unfavorable court decisions, particularly Bruen in 2022. Instead of adhering to what the high court’s majority established, anti-Second Amendment politicians believe they are above both the Constitution and judicial precedent.
They are not.
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