Supreme Court Won't Hear Major Second Amendment Case From Illinois

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a controversial case out of Illinois that effectively upheld a ban on assault weapons as consistent with the Second Amendment.

The court's order didn't explain the reasoning behind the decision, but two justices, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, split with their colleagues and explained why they would've agreed to hear the case.

Pointing to the Supreme Court's decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, which extended the "personal right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, most notably for self-defense within the home," Thomas said the Illinois decision treated "the Second Amendment as a second-class right."

"There is no basis for a different result when our Second Amendment precedents are at stake," Thomas wrote.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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