• Last updated on November 11, 2022

The Supreme Court upheld an Illinois law that prohibited parading with arms by any groups other than the organized militia.

After Herman Presser was convicted for leading a parade of armed members of a fraternal organization, he asserted that the law violated the rights protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. Writing for a unanimous Supreme Court, Justice William B. WoodsWoods, William B.;Presser v. Illinois[Presser v. Illinois] held that the Second Amendment applied only to the federal government and not to the states. Woods also suggested in dicta (in an individual, nonbinding opinion) that the regulation in question did not appear to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. Presser was never reversed. If the Court were to make the Second AmendmentSecond Amendment binding on the states, it is highly unlikely that this would preclude the states from making reasonable regulations to protect the public safety.Incorporation doctrine;Presser v. Illinois[Presser v. Illinois]Right to bear arms;Presser v. Illinois[Presser v. Illinois]

In Presser v. Illinois, Justice William B. Woods argued that the Second Amendment applied to the federal government and not to the states.

(Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)

Due process, substantive

Incorporation doctrine

Second Amendment

Categories: History