Oral Arguments Set for Texas Silencer Case

A firm date and time for the oral arguments in the Texas silencer case, Paxton v. Dettlebach, has been set. A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel will hear oral arguments on May 1, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. in New Orleans, 600 Camp Street. Seating for the public will be limited.

The three-judge panel consists of Judge Edith H. Jones, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Judge Edith Brown Clement, appointed by H.W. Bush in 1991, and Judge Cory T. Wilson, appointed by Donald J. Trump in 2020. From the case records:

The above referenced case has been scheduled for oral argument on 05/01/2024. It will be held in New Orleans -West Courtroom at 9:00. The Oral Argument session number is 41.

The West Courtroom is on the second floor, room 265. Here are court instructions for attending oral arguments. Attending Oral Arguments:

The courthouse doors open at 8:00 a.m. on argument days. Visitors must show photo identification and pass through security screening. Attorneys and their staff may bring electronic devices into the courthouse. All electronic devices must be turned off in the courtroom unless being used by counsel, with all sounds muted, during argument of their case to retrieve documents previously downloaded to the device. A wireless Internet access point is available in the library for use with personal electronic devices (Room 106 – see librarian for password).

Fifth Circuit Rule 34.7 provides that no cameras, tape recorders, or other equipment designed for the recording or transmission of visual images or sound may be present during oral argument.  All visitors attending oral arguments must turn off cell phones, laptop computers, and similar electronic devices when in the courtroom. You may not blog, tweet, or otherwise transmit contemporaneous or live transcription or observations from the courtroom.

Food and beverages may not be brought into the courtrooms.

Public seating in the courtrooms is on a first-come, first-seated basis, and the amount of gallery seating in each courtroom varies widely.

Recording of the Oral Arguments is not allowed in the Fifth Circuit. A Live link to the arguments is available. It is only available while the arguments are proceeding.  A recording of the Oral Arguments is released by the court after 5:00 p.m. on the day of the arguments.

As mentioned in the previous AmmoLand article, the arguments before the three-judge panel are whether the State of Texas, represented by AG Ken Paxton, has standing in this case or if any of the three individual Texas residents who wish to make their own silencers, without paying the federal $200 tax or placing federally mandated serial numbers on them, have standing.

The District Court ruled the plaintiffs did not have standing. It is a major step forward for the standing arguments to be heard by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

From the map, easy parking does not appear to be close to the courthouse. If I were in New Orleans, I would attend the oral arguments in person. 20 minutes of arguments are allocated to each side.  Watching the attorneys and the judges can sometimes give hints as to how they may rule. Listening to the live stream is the next best thing to being there.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.